VietNamNet Bridge – This year has the highest number of track-and-field athletes participating in the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), aiming to win 8-10 gold medals.

Leading athletes will join various international events to score more points to meet qualifier standards of Olympic 2012.

Of the 31 sports that Vietnam will compete in at SEA Games 2011, track-and-field athletes have registered to take 8-10 gold medals, the highest target among 31 sports.

Vietnamese athletes will compete in 31 out of 46 track-and-field categories, with women’s 100m, 200m, 800m, 1,500m running and men’s decathlon as the key categories. Around 35-40 athletes, the highest number so far, will participate in the games.

This is considered the highest goal for track and field sports at a SEA Games, but it is said to be feasible.

According to the coaching board of the Vietnamese national sport team, if athletes can maintain their forms as they were at the previous SEA Games and the Asian Games 2010, they are able to fulfill 80 percent of the plan. The remaining will be covered by newly emerged athletes.

The track and field division has designed a detailed training plan to prepare for SEA Games, especially, training programs for top athletes like Vu Thi Huong, Truong Thi Hang and Vu Van Huyen.

Specifically, coach Nguyen Dinh Minh’s short-range running team will have a 45-90 day drilling trip to Germany in August or September; coach Ho Thi Tu Tam’s medium-range running team will have a three-week training trip in China’s Kunming and a trip to Buhtan in May and in July.

Vu Van Huyen will be sent to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) for training. Other athletes will practice in Belarus and China from 30-40 days.

The funding for the national track and field team in 2011 also doubles that of 2010. Part of the fund will be used to hire four foreign coaches.

Besides the SEA Games, Vietnamese athletes will compete at the Asian Championship in Japan in May and the Asia Grand Prix in China in July to seek points for meeting qualifier standards for the Olympic 2012.

Experts say that Vietnam is able to win at least two tickets to the Olympic 2012, if Vu Thi Huong and Truong Thanh Hang can maintain their records at the Asian Games 2010 and the recent National Games.

The opportunity for Vu Van Huyen to play at the Olympic 2012 is also open if he can break his record at the Asian Games 2006, which is also a record of Southeast Asia.

PV