On the morning of May 7, Dien Bien province held the opening ceremony of the 12th Provincial Sports Festival, 2026 at the provincial stadium.
The Sports Festival is the largest sports festival of the year in the province; demonstrating the mass sports force of each level and each sector throughout the province.
The opening ceremony was attended by more than 12,000 people. The traditional fire of the Congress was taken from the Ho Chi Minh Memorial House on Hill E2, by 20 typical and outstanding athletes of the province, symbolizing 20 sports.
The Games have the participation of 56 athlete delegations from 45 communes, wards and 11 sectors, armed forces units, with 20 sports, 143 sets of medals.
According to the Organizing Committee, by the opening day, 7 sports had been played before the Games. In the official program, the Games organized competitions in 13 sports, including: Table tennis, Swimming, Billiards & Snooker, Chess, Chinese Chess, Badminton, Athletics, Tennis, Crossbow shooting, Stick pushing, Tug of war, Tung con, Tu lu.
The Games will be held for 5 days starting from 10 am on the 7th of May to the end of the 11th of May.
At the opening ceremony, the synchronized program with the theme "Echoes of Dien Bien" was elaborately staged, with the participation of thousands of people combined with a flag and flower performance by 3,000 students, representing the future generation.
According to Mr. Nguyen Minh Phu - Vice Chairman of Dien Bien Provincial People's Committee, to date, 45/45 communes and wards in the province have completed the organization of the Congress according to plan. On average, one Congress organizes 8 sports (including 4 ethnic sports).
Along with that, 11 departments, branches, and armed forces units organized the Congress, attracting tens of thousands of spectators to watch and cheer, creating a series of sports events.
According to Mr. Phu, from the grassroots Sports Games, communes, wards, and units have selected athletes to participate in the 12th Provincial Sports Games, 2026.
