Integration with international sports tournaments
The shooting range in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) at the 1989 SEA Games witnessed the fateful moment of Vietnamese Sports. In those SEA Games, shooter Ngo Ngan Ha won the Gold Medal in the standard women's 10m air rifle shooting event. The result recorded Vietnamese Sports winning the first Gold Medal at an official international sports festival when we returned to integrate with international sports tournaments.
Professionals believe that it was a fatal shot because it marked the continuous development of Vietnamese Sports from the above time through important Games including SEA Games, ASIAD and Olympics.
In 1994, at the ASIAD held in Hiroshima (Japan), taekwondo athlete Tran Quang Ha won the first Gold Medal for Vietnamese Sports at the Asian Games. Later, in conversations, Mr. Tran Quang Ha said that he had never forgotten the moment he overcame his Indonesian opponent in the 58kg weight class final to have such a valuable victory.
Following the above results, shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh of the Vietnamese shooting team also helped Vietnamese Sports win 1 Gold Medal and 1 Silver Medal at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. That moment, the country's sports people always remember because Vietnamese athletes officially won Gold Medals at the Olympic arena after decades of training, coaching, and investment.
Expert Nguyen Hong Minh (former Director of the Department of High-Performance Sports 1, General Department of Sports and Physical Training) assessed: "We have the heroism of the early stages when the country was still facing many difficulties, but the Vietnamese Sports sector has tried to invest and train coaches and athletes to lay the foundation for national sports in many sports.
When returning to integrate with regional (SEA Games), continental (ASIAD) or world (Olympic) playgrounds, each coach and athlete participating in competition is already an honor for themselves. But when competing, under the investment of the State and the concentration of preparation through each stage, we gradually shed the mindset of participating to learn and move towards achieving the highest results”.
Vietnamese sports has had managers, sports people, coaches, and athletes laying the initial foundation for development throughout the past 80 years. 3 milestones with the Gold Medal achievements of athletes Ngo Ngan Ha, Tran Quang Ha and Hoang Xuan Vinh are proof that Vietnamese sports has movement and breakthrough value development.
Maintaining a high position in Southeast Asia
Vietnamese sports are a pillar in Southeast Asia. This cannot be denied. From the initial youngness of reintegrating to the SEA Games in 1989, to now, Vietnamese Sports has always led in the Gold Medal achievement at the Southeast Asian Games over the past 20 years.
Mr. Tran Duc Phan (former Deputy Director General, General Department of Sports and Physical Training) once shared: "In the working sessions of Southeast Asian sports, the role of Vietnamese Sports is very important. We are an active member promoting regional sports development as well as fully participating in Games and winning achievements to improve the results of Southeast Asian Sports in general. Therefore, sports in Southeast Asia always maintain a spirit of respect for Vietnamese Sports.
In the period 2030-2045, Vietnamese Sports also aims to build a widespread physical education and sports movement with the number of people regularly practicing physical education and sports reaching over 45% of the population; over 90% of students and soldiers of the armed forces meeting physical training standards.
Vietnamese sports is ready to maintain investment and focus on maintaining its position in the top 3 leading countries at the SEA Games, ranking in the Top 20 countries at the ASIADs ( striving to achieve 5-7 Gold Medals at the ASIADs), having medals at the Olympics, Paralympics, men's football in the Top 10 of Asia, women's football in the Top 8 of Asia.
Director of the Vietnam Sports Administration, Mr. Nguyen Danh Hoang Viet, said that Vietnamese Sports is in a stage where opportunities and challenges are fiercely intertwined. Therefore, focusing on investing in development to achieve achievements and enhance the image of Vietnamese Sports in the Southeast Asian and Asian arenas is always the responsibility of the sector.
In 2025, when attending the 8th ASEAN Sports Ministers' Meeting (AMMS 8) in Vietnam, all sports managers in Southeast Asia highly appreciated Vietnam's active participation in activities to develop regional sports. Vietnamese sports, like many other sports, aim for a dynamic, creative and sustainable ASEAN Sports Community, contributing to the common prosperity of the region, creating new imprints.
Through the Asian Games (OCA), to date, Vietnamese Sports has achieved a total of 21 Gold Medals, 75 Silver Medals and 112 Bronze Medals.
Through the Olympics, Vietnamese Sports has won a total of 1 Gold Medal, 3 Silver Medals, 1 Bronze Medal.
Impressions of the National Sports Games
Sports expert Lam Quang Thanh (former Deputy Director General of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training) once expressed "The National Sports Games is the most comprehensive program to evaluate the investment in sports of units across the country. Also from the National Sports Games, managers will see the development of Vietnamese Sports through each cycle (4 years/time)".
The National Sports Games were first held in 1985. In the early stages, the Vietnamese Sports sector only modestly organized 15 sports with 127 competition events. By 2018, the Games officially changed its name to the National Sports Games. By the 9th National Sports Games in 2022, the number of competition sports had increased to 53 with a total of 941 sets of medals.
In 2026, the National Sports Games entered their 10th edition, and the competition content has reached 973. Many opinions believe that the National Sports Games are partly reflecting the development of Vietnamese Sports. Up to this point, one of the overarching goals for Vietnamese Sports to organize the Games has clearly stated: "Strengthening the awareness of all levels, sectors and the whole society about the position, role, and effect of physical education and sports; promoting the movement of sports training among the people, contributing to improving physical fitness, improving the quality of human resources, serving the construction and defense of the Fatherland, creating conditions for rapid development of high-performance sports, promoting the development of facilities and training basic, systematic, and scientific athletes to improve sports achievements to a new step...".
