LookAtVietnam – HCM City has finally renewed its payment structure for top athletes, an extension five-times higher than the previous amount.

Badminton’s top-seeded Nguyen Tien Minh.

The change is nine months behind schedule, but the decision should prove to be a driving force for top athletes in competitions next year.

With the new policy, a winner at the Olympics or in a World championship will be given a cash stipend of VND15 million (US$833) each month, excluding his or her monthly payments, nutrition budget and awards, while an Asian champion will be paid VND10 million ($556).

A medal winner from the Southeast Asian Junior Championship will also be eligible for VND3.75 million ($208) every month. Each athlete will also receive a little spending money, from VND250,000 to VND1.1 million (from $13.8 to $61).

The City also doubled athletes’ daily nutrition budgets from VND60.000 ($3.3) to VND120,000($6.60). The policy will aim to improve the current deadlock on some sports that the city has dominated for the past two decades. Top runner Truong Thanh Hang, who brought home gold medals at the Asian Athletics Association’s Grand Prix Series last year, decided to leave for the northern Ninh Binh team earlier this year.

The northern province offered her VND16 million ($888) a month, three times as much as she was getting from HCM City’s athletics federation. Hang is now financed by Ninh Binh in a four-year coaching course at the Da Nang Sports College, which will help her secure a sports job after her retirement.

The 23-year-old athlete’s move warned the city’s sports managers of the possible flight risks of their top athletes. Bodybuilder Nguyen Van Lam was the first beneficiary of the new policy. He was paid the allotted monthly VND15 million ($833), three times more than his previous pay.

The new policy has helped the 33-year-old athlete change his mind about leaving his team, as he threatened to do three times this year.

In the city, badminton’s top-seeded Nguyen Tien Minh, ranked at seventh in the world, is the best-paid player, with a monthly income of VND60 million ($3,300).

Deputy director of HCM City’s Culture, Sports and Tourism, Nguyen Hung, said that the policy had come just in time.

“Top athletes should be the better paid for their triumphs and work. We have changed our policies to provide them with the best conditions not only for the city, but for the country as well,” said Hung.

“HCM City’s ineffective investments in sports are over with. The city should be pouring money into its favourite sports, especially the one’s that the city has dominated, such as volleyball, athletics, swimming and tennis.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News