More than 200 delegates who were sport managers, experts and officials as well as journalists and reporters specializing in sports took part in the event held at the Ba Dinh Sports Centre.
Speaking at the conference, Deputy Director of the Sports Authority of Viet Nam (SAV) Nguyen Hong Minh said Viet Nam made remarkable progress demonstrated by high results earned at the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), youth sports games and international championships in recent years. It was due to the high attention, strong investment and close direction of the Government and managers of all levels, sectors and localities.
Viet Nam’s progress was obviously seen in term of achievements, but the results at the Olympics and ASIAD were still quite modest. It was even falling behind many countries in the region, continent and world.
Delegates take part in a conference on building a program for developing Viet Nam’s key sports heading to the Olympics and ASIAD arenas in the period 2026-2046 on March 28 in Ha Noi
The main reason was attributed to a lack of a national training program to improve athletes’ performance in key sports. In the world, many strong sport countries, which secured high results in major tournaments, had their specific programs focusing on key athletes to compete in tournaments such as the Olympics and ASIAD.
In Viet Nam, the Politburo recently issued Conclusion No. 70-KL/TW on sports development in the new period. The conclusion identified four key groups of tasks that the sport managers need to focus on. The national Sports Development Strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2045, was approved. It clearly identified five viewpoints, six specific goals, nine groups of tasks, and important solutions that were needed to specify for implementation.
In this strategy, the Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, especially the SAV, to build a program to develop key sports to participate in the Olympics and ASIAD in the period 2026-2046.
Following that direction, the SAV coordinated with relevant agencies to develop and complete the program for developing key sports to participate in the Olympics and ASIAD in the period 2026-2046.
A draft program was completed based on researching groups of issues and collecting opinions from agencies, units, and the national federations. It clearly demonstrated the viewpoints, goals, targets, tasks, and main solutions to concretize the national Sports Development Strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2045, Deputy Director Nguyen Hong Minh added.
Deputy Director Nguyen Hong Minh also hoped that through the conference, managers, experts and scientists would actively contribute their opinions to select the key sports. The managers would base on that selection to build suitable investment and development plans, aiming to win ASIAD gold medals and Olympic medals in the period 2026-2046.
Head of the High Performance Sports Department Hoang Quoc Vinh said: The program was conducted nationwide targeting young talented athletes in national youth teams and young athletes with high achievements.
The young athletes, who had Vietnamese nationality or were eligible for naturalization and were potential for further development and currently training at sports centers in 63 provinces/cities, the Military and the Police, were also in target.
Based on these advantages, limitations and experience, general goals for the whole program and goals for each stage were made up. Specifically:
In the 2026-2030 period: Viet Nam Team maintains in top three of all SEA Games editions and top 20 in ASIADs. The team is asked to win gold in sports of shooting, karate and sepak takraw in the ASIAD 2026; six golds in shooting, archery, karate, rowing and sepak takraw in the ASIAD 2030; and two bronzes in shooting, archery and weightlifting in the Olympics 2028. The national men’s football team must be in Asian top 10 while the female squad must be in Asian top eight (implemented in separate program).
Regarding the planning of key athletes, each year strong support will be given to about 165 - 170 key athletes in 17 key sports including athletics (3), shooting (18), archery (9), taekwondo (10), weightlifting (12), boxing (6), fencing (6), gymnastics (6), cycling (4), judo (5), wrestling (5), swimming (5), badminton (5), rowing (34), karate (5), wushu (12) and sepak takraw (18).
In the 2030-2036 period: Viet Nam Team maintains in top three of all SEA Games editions and top 20 in ASIADs. The team must win seven golds in shooting, archery, karate, rowing, sepak takraw and boxing in the ASIAD 2034; two bronzes in archery and weightlifting the Olympics 2032; and one silver and one bronze in archery, weightlifting and shooting in the Olympics 2036. The key sport teams which receive investment in the period of 2026-2030 must maintain their performance and have breakthrough results in other categories.
In the 2036-2046 period: Viet Nam must be in top 2 in all SEA Games editions, top 15 in ASIADs and top 50 in Olympics. The men’s and women’s football teams are asked to stay in the Asian top eight and qualify for World Cup (implemented in separate program).
At the conference, Dr Le Thanh Tung, director of the Viet Nam Sports Hospital presented his speech on health care, rehabilitation and injury treatment solutions for athletes; and a program of building a national sports medicine network, improving the efficiency of serving high-performance sports.
Analyzing the current status of health care and injury treatment for athletes, Dr Tung emphasized the necessity and urgency of building a synchronous, effective and sustainable sports medicine system to meet the requirements of high-performance sports in the new period.
According to him, sports medicine played a core and strategic role in improving athletes’ physical fitness and high performance. It also helped prolong their career and lift their competition results.
As Viet Nam heads to develop its sport industry following the professional, modern and scientific direction, a synchronous, effective and sustainable sports medicine system was not only an urgent requirement, but also an important "element" in the national Sports Development Strategy in the new period.
Managing Director of TiiA Consulting David Crocker attended the conference and told delegates about the road to success of Australian sports.
Crocker emphasized the importance of building a plan and implementing it at the right time. This lesson helped Australia's high-performance sports system reach its perfection and improve their athletes’ results at targeted time.
He showed Australian specific achievements in swimming through the Olympics: 10 medals - 1 gold in the London 2012; 10 medals - three golds in the Rio 2016; 30 medals - nine golds in the Tokyo 2020; 28 medals - seven golds in the Paris 2024.
Crocker said that the secret to success was to focus on developing elite talents, top-notch training programs and sports science application. Besides focusing on a single goal, it was necessary to personalize the plan for each athlete, mobilize and arrange resources reasonably.
He added it was required to build a sustainable, ethical and inclusive high performance sports system. Instead of short-term achievement, the system should focus on long-term development and wellbeing of athletes.
Thanh Ha