VietNamNet Bridge - On June 25, the Vietnam sports delegation consisting of more than 100 elite athletes will go to the Republic of Korea (RoK) to participate in the Asian Indoor & Martial Art Games (AIMAG4).

Vietnam will be represented by 106 competitors in 12 events, including billiards and snooker (13 players), short-course swimming (6), chess (6), muay (5), kickboxing (9), dance sport (8), kurash (5), kabaddi (7), bowling (4), eSports (10) and futsal (33).

The national sports delegation will arrive in Incheon on June 27, two days before the official AIMAG opening ceremony at Samsan World Gymnasium.

The eight-day event is an ideal platform for Vietnamese athletes to hone their skills and gain experience in preparation for the 27th Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar this December and the 17th Asian Games in Incheon next year.

With many bright faces, Vietnam hopes to win at least nine gold medals in 11 out of 12 sports events. Chess and swimming are the two subjects that are expected to bring in more gold medals for Vietnam this time.

The country’s two top chess stars, Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, are expected to secure two gold medals, while prominent swimmers Nguyen Thi Anh Vien and Hoang Quy Phuoc are also good bets for Vietnamese gold at the competition.

Vietnam’s number one chessman Quang Liem won the world blitz chess championship in Russia a few days ago and not long before the Asian blitz chess championship in the Philippines.

At the Southeast Asia swimming competition held recently in Brunei, Anh Vien won 11 gold and two silver medals, breaking seven records of Southeast Asia and one SEA Games record. Earlier in May, she got a card to the world swimming championships (women’s 200m backstroke) in Barcelona (Spain).

Besides Quang Liem and Truong Son, Vietnam has other outstanding chessmen such as Pham Le Thao Nguyen and Hoang Thi Bao Tram (female) for the individual standard chess event. In swimming, other excellent players are Le Thi My Thao, Nguyen Thi Kim Tuyen, Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh (female) and Tran Duy Khoi (male).

For billiards-snooker, the two champions Ma Xuan Cuong (world bronze medal 2011) and Ngo Dinh Nai (Asian champion 2012) also promise to bring about success for Vietnam.

For kurash event, Vietnam will have an outstanding representative - veteran athlete Van Ngoc Tu, a former judo artist. At the third Asian Indoor Games, Van Ngoc Tu won a gold medal though her time with kurash was not long.

This year, Ngoc Tu has to spend a lot of time for judo to prepare for the 2013 SEA Games Judo but she is determined to win a medal at AIMAG4. Tu’s major opponents will be athletes from Taiwan and Kazakhstan.

The Muay team has Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat (Asian champion 2012 – men’s 60kg, three-time semi-professional world championship from 2010 to 2012, three gold medals in the Muay world championship between 2010 and 2012).

The dance-sport team will have up to four pairs, with familiar faces such as: Chi Anh and Nha Khanh, Hong Viet and Thu Trang, Minh Duc and Thu Huong and Ming Truong and My An.

Four years ago at the 3rd Asian Indoor Games, Vietnam’s Khanh Thi and Minh Truong crowned the champion. This year, Khanh Thi is the coach and Minh Truong will be paired with his cousin My An while other famous pair - Chi Anh and Nha Khanh – will compete in standard category.

Nguyen Nam