Vietnamese track and fields athletes have a chance to take part in the 13th
World Athletics Championship in South Korea, according to standards just
released by the International Association of Athletics Federation.

Beeline to victory: Southeast Asian Games gold medallist Truong Thanh Hang needs to maintain her current form in the women’s 800m and 1,500m to grab a berth in the World Athletics Championship in South Korea in August. (Photo: VNS)

A and B standards are
to be applied to participants. Vietnamese seeking opportunities are: women’s
100m and 200m Vu Thi Huong, 800m and 1,500m Truong Thanh Hang, men’s decathlon
Vu Van Huyen.

Huong has to run 100m
in 11.38sec and the 200m in 23.30, and Hang must run 800m in 2:01.30 and 1500 in
4:08.90, both to meet the B standard.

Huong last December
broke the national record in the National Sport Games’ 200m event with similar
result to the standard while her seasonal best in the 100m was 11.34 at the 25th
SEA Games’ 100m in Laos in 2009.

Da Nang-based Hang has
the chance run in South Korea if she can maintain the times she ran at the 16th
Asian Games in Guangzhou last November.

Hang earned two silver
medals in her two events with times of 2:00.91 and 4:08.22, respectively. Both
are better than the B standard.

The runners’ tasks now
are to maintain their results.

The Vietnamese are
also likely to qualify for the London Olympics next year because the standards
applied for that even are lower than that of the world competition in South
Korea.

Hang and Huong will
receive intensive support this year. Huong will take part in a long-term
training course in Germany while Hang will train in China or Bhutan.

They will return home
ahead of the Asian Athletics Championship in Kobe, Japan, on July 7-10. If they
qualify they will compete in the world championship from August 27 to September
4 in Daegu City.

Meanwhile, “Iron” man
Huyen has to achieve 8,000 points to reach the B standard.

Huyen surprised in
Guangzhou where he won a bronze medal with 7,755 points.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News