Talent can bleed
Vinh Phuc Sports is currently training 11 high-performance sports including shooting, rowing, archery, volleyball, pencak silat, karate, wushu, athletics, wrestling, cycling, and tennis. Through discussions and observations, many frontline athletes of Vinh Phuc Sports have submitted resignations and asked to leave the unit.
Mr. Nguyen Hong Minh - former head of the Department of High Performance Sports (Sports and Physical Training Committee), shared: “I learned about the incident at Vinh Phuc Sports through the media. This is sad because I know Vinh Phuc has a good mechanism for coaches and athletes in the sports field. But clearly, the fact that athletes have been delayed in receiving their allowances for nearly three years is very sad. We should also find out the specific cause, from there we can be sure that the locality has a solution.”
Vinh Phuc once held the 27th position at the 9th National Sports Festival in 2022. In the results at that time, Vinh Phuc sports achieved the highest achievement of 9 Gold Medals. Some coaches of Vinh Phuc sports teams (name withheld) shared very frankly that, in reality, difficulties like this cannot keep good people.
In fact, the regime that Vinh Phuc province gives to local coaches and athletes is not low. According to regulations, athletes are entitled to 200,000 VND/person/day of nutrition (during training time), and during competition time, each person is entitled to 240,000 VND/day of nutrition.
Vinh Phuc province has implemented Decision 1496/QD-UBND (2021) on approving a specific policy for the development of physical training and sports in Vinh Phuc province for the period 2021-2025, with a vision to 2030. In particular, in addition to nutrition, drinking water, and bonuses, athletes are annually supported with an amount of 36 million VND/person/year for the national team and 24 million VND/person/year for the youth team.
Had to leave
Olympic canoeist Nguyen Thi Huong had to submit a request to leave Vinh Phuc and clearly stated in the request to the management level of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vinh Phuc province, the Sports Training and Competition Center of Vinh Phuc province that she decided to leave due to the delayed payment of her allowance (from 2022 to 2024). Nguyen Thi Huong is just one of the specific cases. Previously, after consideration, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vinh Phuc province approved 24 athletes to leave without signing contracts. Nguyen Thi Huong has not spoken out since the incident was made public, but people in the canoe racing community confirmed that this is an athlete who is very attached to her homeland but was forced to leave due to life. Currently, high-performance sports at units across the country are trained and coached according to the allocated budget. The bonus and nutrition regime for athletes is applied by each city and locality according to the issued regulations.
Vinh Phuc sports have advantages in some sports, there are people who create an image for the country's sports (including Nguyen Thi Huong) but are facing difficulties that cause many people to find a way out. In 2024, Nguyen Thi Huong attracted significant attention when participating in the 2024 Paris Olympics (France), being a typical national athlete, and an excellent young athlete with the Victory Cup award and winning national championships and Southeast Asian championships.
“Currently, Nguyen Thi Huong is training with the Vietnam Canoeing Team and focusing on her expertise. However, the athlete’s rights must always be guaranteed and we understand that it is not by chance that Huong had to submit a resignation letter to the Vinh Phuc management unit,” said a representative of the Vietnam Canoeing Team’s coaching staff.
