VietNamNet Bridge – The first ticket of Vietnam’s track-and-field comes to walker Thanh Phuc. Pressure is now on the shoulder of senior athletes, like runners Truong Thanh Hang, Vu Thi Huong and high-jumper Duong Thi Viet Anh.

Walker rewarded for earning an Olympic ticket

In the last couple of years, Vu Thi Huong and Truong Thanh Hang have been considered as the top athletes of Vietnam’s athletics. They have been the mainstays of the national track-and-field team and the hopes of Vietnam at Southeast Asian Games.

Huong and Hang were expected as the first athletes who would win tickets to the Olympics 2012 for the country’s athletes, but they are the hopes now. It is anticipated that the road to London Olympics for Huong and Hang will be very rough.

Four days ago, Hang, three other runners – Duong Van Thai, Nguyen Dinh Cuong and Do Thi Hao, and coach Ho Thi Tu Tam went to Kunming, China for training.
Kunming is a familiar site for Vietnamese athletes because the weather and food there are suitable to Vietnamese sportsmen, said Hang.

In the training period before the Asian Games 2010, Hang also practiced in Kunming and she made a record in women’s 800m running, with less than two minutes. At the games, she broke the finish line at 2’00’’91 minutes.

Returning to Kunming in early April 2012, Hang and her coach hoped to improve Hang’s physical strength, durability and speed. These are the most important factors to the success of runners. To meet the B Olympic standard, Hang will have to pass 800m in at least 2.1.30 minutes.
Another ‘queen of speed’, Vu Thi Huong will not practice in Europe as scheduled. She will exercise at HCM City’s Thong Nhat Stadium and participate in competitions held from April to July--in order to get a card to the Olympics.

Experts say that overseas training is not the best choice. However, the running track at the Thong Nhat Stadium is downgraded and it will surely make adverse impacts on Huong’s training plan.

Officials of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training met with Huong and promised to make the most favorable conditions for her practice. However, it is a big challenge for Huong to shorten 11.73 seconds to 11.38 seconds for the 100m.
Runner Truong Thanh Hang will return to Vietnam from China on May 5. At the same time, Vu Thi Huong will finish her training time in HCM City.

After that, Hang, Huong and Duong Thi Viet Anh will go to Thailand to compete at the Asian Grand Prix on May 8 in Bangkok, on May 11 in Kanchanaburu and in Chonburi on May 14. If they fail to reach the B Olympic standard, they will have the last chance – the Asian Stars in June in Kazakhstan.

S. Tung