LookAtVietnam – Despite being one of Viet Nam’s strongest disciplines, the national weightlifting team is hamstrung by a lack of funds, the sport’s senior administrator says.

Top lift: Hoang Anh Tuan competes in an international weightlifting tournament.

However the team received far less than it needed, he said.

“Of the $90,000 budget for last year’s tournaments for weightlifting and bodybuilding, we saved $50,000 for weightlifting, of which $40,000 was spent on Hoang Anh Tuan.”

At last year’s Olympic Games in Beijing, Tuan took silver medal in the men’s 56kg class – the country’s only medal of the games, and only its second in history. At the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Tran Hieu Ngan took silver medal in taekwondo.

However, Khang said this year, the cash-strapped weightlifting team would not be able to travel abroad for much-needed training.

“This year the sport will face a lack of funds for sending athletes overseas for training and competition. It means, our athletes will have little chance against top athletes in the world,” Khang said.

“We have asked the national Sports Administration to provide athletes with a special nutritional regime to help them reach their top physical condition.”

Khang says weightlifting does not receive the sponsorship other sports such as football, volleyball, swimming and badminton do.

Despite poor funding, weightlifters have continued to win honours in regional and world events.

After bagging a silver medal in Beijing, Tuan went on to win a gold and two silver medals in the men’s 56kg division at the Asian Championship in Kazakhstan.

“Tuan could do even better if he had better funding from the sports administration. He is a world-class athlete and could win a medal at the next Olympics in London in 2012,” Khang said.

Earlier this year, the northern Bac Ninh-born athlete agreed to represent Da Nang city for a record monthly sum of VND15 million ($833).

Female weightlifters have also performed well internationally. Nguyen Thi Thiet qualified for the Olympics in Athens and Beijing and won a silver medal at the Asian Championship in Kazakhstan last month. At the Asian Championship last year she bagged three silvers.

Young stars

At the World Youth Weightlifting Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand, last month, Vietnamese weightlifters gained four silver and two bronze medals. Nguyen Thi Hong received silver in the women’s 44kg category with a 66kg snatch, a bronze for a 75kg clean and jerk and another bronze with a total lift of 144kg.

Meanwhile, Kim Thanh Tuan won a hat-trick of silvers for a snatch of 91kg, 116kg in the clean and jerk and a 207kg total lift in the men’s 50kg division.

The teenage athletes also won berths at the Youth Olympics in Singapore next year.

“Thanh Tuan and Hong are rising stars. They will be members of the senior Vietnamese weightlifting team in the future, but they still lack experience in competition that will be an obstacle to winning gold medals.” Khang said.

The next international competition will be the Asian Indoor Games in Viet Nam this November followed by the Southeast Asian Games in Laos in December.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News