Vietnam will strive to win 4-5 gold medals at the Asian Games (ASIAD 2018) to be held in Indonesia from August 18 to September 2.

Shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh

Meeting with outstanding coaches and athletes in Hanoi on February 10 on the occasion of the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet), Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien hoped the athletes will build on their achievements in 2017 and reap more medals in 2018 and the following years.

He highlighted Vietnam’s notable sport outcomes over the past few years, including the first ever gold medal of shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh at the Olympic Rio 2016, Vietnam’s gaining an official ticket to the Futsal World Cup 2016, and the outstanding performance of Vietnamese track-and-field team to rank first at the 29th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 29) in Malaysia.

The minister hoped the Vietnamese sport sector will stand in the top list of the Southeast Asian region. Looking further to the Olympic Tokyo 2020, the sector should aim to maintain its achievement of one gold and one silver medal at Rio, he said.

According to the Vietnam Sports Administration, Vietnamese athletes won 425 gold, 301 silver and 319 bronze medals in 2017. Particularly, Vietnam ranked third with 58 gold, 50 silver and 60 bronze medals at the SEA Games 29 in Malaysia on August 19-31. Track-and-field athletes won big with 17 gold medals while swimmers claimed 10 gold medals.-VNA