Thien made the remark during a conference held by the General Department of Sports and Physical Training in Hanoi on December 26 to review the sector’s performance in 2019 and to deploy its tasks for the year to come.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien speaks at the conference.

The official lauded the significant outcomes attained by Vietnamese sports over the past year, especially at the recent 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in the Philippines.

“For the first time ever, Vietnam overtakes Thailand in terms of Olympic events, which is a very pride worthy milestone. In this year’s SEA Games, we outplayed Thailand concerning both the number of medals and the quality of athletes,” he said.

Regarding the sport sector’s key tasks next year, Thien encouraged the Vietnam U23 football team to work hard for top results, while asking the men’s national team to give their best in the second round of the 2022 World Cup Asian qualifiers.

A general view of the conference.

The minister requested high concentration in making preparations for the 31st SEA Games, to be hosted in Vietnam in 2021. “We need to show countries in the region that Vietnam is strong in Olympic sports, and that the 31st SEA Games is not a festival of the host country alone, but a sporting event of solidarity and friendship,” he stated.

At the conference, Minister Thien, authorised by the State President, presented the Labour Order and certificates of merit to collectives and individuals who have displayed outstanding performance in the field of sports.

According to a report by Director of the General Department Vuong Bich Thang, Vietnamese sport won a total of 587 gold, 428 silver and 468 bronze medals at the various competitions throughout 2019. At the 30th SEA Games in particular, the Vietnam sports delegation performed brilliantly bringing home 98 golds, 85 silvers and 105 bronzes.

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Source: NDO