The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee on November 5 held a ceremony to honour local athletes who well performed at the ninth ASEAN Para Games and the fifth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG 2017).

The city sent 97 athletes to compete in eight events of the ASEAN Para Games in Malaysia, including swimming, track-and-field, weightlifting, chess, badminton, boccia, football for the visually-impaired and table tennis. They bagged 35 gold, 45 silver and 35 bronze medals.

Meanwhile, at AIMAG 2017 held in Turkmenistan, 41 of Vietnam’s 130 athletes were from HCM City, earning six gold, three silver and eight bronze medals.

Huynh Cach Mang, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said the athletes’ achievements showed the success of HCM City’s sport sector in training athletes for regional and international competition.

He also voiced his hope that the city’s sport delegation will gain better results in the upcoming 2018 Asian Games and Asian Para Games, as well as the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Japan.

At the ceremony, athletes and trainers of the city were granted more than 8.9 billion VND (390,470 USD) in total while 97 individuals received certificates of merit.-VNA