A memorable year of Long An sport

Swimmer My Tien wins the Best Athlete Cup at the 2024 National Swimming and Diving Championship

High-performance sports exceeded targets

In the last days of 2024, good news from Long An high-performance sports continuously came from the 2024 National Swimming and Diving Championship held in Tay Ninh province, when the Long An swimming team achieved second place in the overall swimming event.

In particular, the number 1 female swimmer in Vietnam, who is also the main athlete of Long An sports, brought home a total of 9 Gold and 5 Silver Medals for the Long An swimming team.

2024 is also a very successful year for My Tien in particular and Long An high-performance sports in general. For My Tien personally, after success in all swimming competitions she participated in, the 20-year-old athlete officially won the No. 1 position in Vietnamese women's swimming.

This achievement also gave My Tien the ticket to the biggest sports festival on the planet - the 2024 Paris Olympics in France. It was the medals that she won at national competitions helped Long An sports surpass the set target.

According to the Director of Long An Sports Training and Competition Center - Nguyen Bao Hoan, in 2024, with the constant efforts of athletes, coaching staff and the attention of leaders at all levels, Long An high-performance sports achieved results beyond expectations when exceeding the set targets with 47 Gold Medals, 21 Silver Medals and 36 Bronze Medals from international and national tournaments.

"The achievements in 2024 mark a successful year for Long An high-performance sports. This result not only affirms the quality of training and competition but also opens up many development opportunities for athletes in the future, contributing to improving national sports achievements. In particular, the province's three main sports, women's volleyball, athletics and swimming, have all achieved great success when two athletes, Vo Thi My Tien in swimming and Tran Thi Nhi Yen in athletics, won the ticket to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics; and four female volleyball athletes, Thanh Thuy, Khanh Dang, Kim Thoa and Tra My, have made many contributions to the national team in international tournaments" - Mr. Hoan said.

Overcoming difficulties, developing sustainably

Age group sports tournaments help discover and nurture potential athletes for provincial sports

Although in recent years, the province's high-performance sports have achieved many successes along with strong investment from localities, in the coming years, Long An sports will also face many difficulties and challenges.

According to Mr. Nguyen Bao Hoan, currently, the training and competition of athletes is still very limited. Many sports face difficulties in training facilities such as athletics, bodybuilding or pencak silat, so athletes must practice outside the province. The next generation of athletes also has gaps and shortages, especially in swimming or athletics.

Although the Center has discovered many athletes with potential that can be trained to become professional athletes through the youth and age group tournaments,.convincing the athletes' families to let their children pursue a sports career is difficult.

Many families do not want their children to participate in professional sports. They believe that professional sports do not bring stability in career and income, so they often direct their children to focus on their studies instead of pursuing their passion for sports. This also partly leads to a gap in the work of discovering and selecting potential athletes for sports in the province - Mr. Hoan added.

In addition, the current team of highly specialized coaches has not yet met the requirements of training. Although the Sports sector has developed a training and development program, the number of highly specialized coaches, especially in key sports, is still lacking, leading to a decrease in the quality of training, especially in sports that require specialized technical requirements.

Mr.Hoan also said that with the current conditions of facilities and remuneration mechanisms, it is very difficult to attract and retain a team of good coaches to contribute to the province's sports.

Based on that reality, Mr. Hoan affirmed that in 2025, in addition to organizing well provincial sports tournaments and participating in national and international tournaments, the Sports sector will focus on building early talent selection programs to discover and nurture young athletes from an early age, creating opportunities for talents to develop and have a long-term commitment to sports.

Along with that, the Sports sector will have a plan to develop a team of coaches with in-depth expertise, build a cooperation mechanism with sports education institutions and have a clear strategy for personnel succession to ensure sustainable development.

“In particular, in 2025, the Center will continue to establish close relationships with businesses and sponsors to mobilize more resources to improve the quality of organizing sports tournaments, improve facilities and support training and competition costs for athletes, helping the team of coaches and athletes feel secure in their commitment, compete and contribute to the achievements and glory of the province's sports" - Mr. Hoan emphasized./.

By Kien Dinh - Translated by Q. Thien

Source: https://baolongan.vn/the-thao-long-an-mot-nam-day-dau-an-a188595.html