The Vietnamese athletes participating in the Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG) arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina on October 3 to a warm welcome from organisers and volunteers.

Vietnamese delegation arrives at Ezeiza airport in Buenos Aires, Argentina 

The YOG is scheduled to take place in Buenos Aires from October 6-18. 

The delegation, led by Tran Duc Phan, Deputy Director General of the Vietnam Sports Administration, comprises of 23 members, including 13 athletes.

Vietnamese athletes will compete in seven sports, including athletics, swimming, weightlifting, badminton, taekwondo, gymnastics and dance sport.

Prominent athletes include 18-year-old swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang, who won a silver medal at the recent Asian Games in Indonesia in the men’s 1500m.

Vietnam have taken part in two previous YOG events in 2010 and 2014. At the YOG in 2010, the team bagged one gold thanks to weightlifter Thach Kim Tuan in the men’s 56kg, one silver in taekwondo and two bronzes in taekwondo and badminton.

At the YOG in 2014, swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien won a gold medal and weightlifter Nguyen Tran Anh Tuan brought home a silver.

The YOG is an elite multi-sport international event held every four years for the world’s best athletes between the ages of 14 to 18. Buenos Aires 2018 will mark the first time an Olympic event has had an equal number of women and men athletes. There will be 1,999 women and 1,999 men from 206 countries and territories competing in 32 sports for a total of 1,250 medals.

In addition, this is the first time the event has been held in a city in the Americas.-VNA