Vietnam’s national hockey team won the best Sportsmanship Award at the Nantou International Men’s Hockey Tournament, which concluded in Chinese Taipei on December 14.

The Vietnamese team (in red) playing Chinese Taipei at the Nantou International Men’s Hockey Tournament in Chinese Taipei. (Photo courtesy of James Chew)

Hosts Chinese Taipei took the event’s title, while the Republic of Korea were the runners-up.

“The Vietnam Hockey Federation brought a young team to Chinese Taipei to gain experience as part of their national hockey development plan to expose young players to international competition,” said team manager James Chew.

“It is very important for future national team players to have enough competition against strong national teams of other countries to improve on both their hockey skills and competition experience, which includes discipline and sportsmanship,” he said. “Whilst we didn’t fair too well in terms of match results as expected, the players have showed marked improvement in how they play technically.

“The Vietnamese team also won the best Sportsmanship Award even though they didn’t win a medal,” Chew added. “So the objectives of the trip to Chinese Taipei have been met.”

The hockey tournament took place from December 9 to 14 in Chushan, Nantou County. Vietnam played the likes of Chinese Taipei, the Republic of Korea and Hong Kong.

The trip also enabled new Vietnamese coaches including Huynh Dai Phuc to gain experience coaching the national team.

The event was organised by the Chinese Taipei Hockey Federation and endorsed by the Asian Hockey Federation.- VNS