Vietnam is capable of getting 4-6 gold medals at Asian Games

After the opening ceremony of the Asian Games (ASIAD 2010) tonight, November 12, Vietnamese sportsmen will compete in major sport disciplines. Le Quy Phuong, head of the Vietnamese delegation at ASIAD, talks about advantages and disadvantages for Vietnam .

Is everything okay now with the Vietnamese sport delegation?

At this moment Vietnam is fully prepared for the games. All Vietnamese athletes are at ease now. This is a very important factor in sport competition.

Could you give more details about doping tests, the accommodation, traveling, etc. of the athletes at ASIAD?

Doping test is always the top priority at any sport event. To prepare for ASIAD, we randomly collected ten samples for the tests from athletes in HCM City and Hanoi . The samples were sent to the world top doping testing centre in Beijing .

One week ago, the laboratory in Beijing sent back the testing results and all samples are negative. All Vietnamese athletes meet the conditions to join the games.

We have checked the accommodations and traveling conditions for athletes in Guangzhou , which are very good. About food, the organizing board said that there are up to 800-900 kinds of cuisines for athletes to choose.

What do you think about Vietnam ’s ambition of winning 4-6 gold medals at the ASIAD? Which disciplines does Vietnam ’s hopes lie in?

We have firm grounds to believe that Vietnam can realize its goal. We have carefully prepared to accomplish it. We had defined 62 outstanding athletes who we have invested in for a long time before the games.

There are nine or ten sports that Vietnam can win gold medals in. Firstly, it is karate. Vietnam is eyeing a gold medal for karate but we have three athletes who can take gold medals. However, Nguyen Hoang Ngan has caught an injury so we have lost a medal.

The second is sepak takraw. We won two gold medals for this at the previous Games. Other sports are chess, shooting, billiard snooker, wushu, track and field and fencing.

This is the first time you lead the Vietnamese sport delegation at a big international sport event. Do you feel a strong pressure?

I know that I will have to try my best to fulfil my responsibility as the delegation chief at a big event like this. Fortunately I’ve learnt a lot from previous expriences.

This year we anticipated difficulties and prepared very carefully for the games so I hope everything will be smooth.