The Vietnam News Agency’s The Thao & Van Hoa (Sports & Culture) newspaper launched a programme on September 17 in support of athletes who bring home medals at the 17th Asian Games (ASIAD) and 2nd Asian Para Games, held in Incheon, the Republic of Korea, in September and October.

The programme is funded by the newspaper and the Saigon-Hanoi Insurance Joint Stock Corporation with the coordination of the Vietnam Olympic Committee.

Accordingly, gold medal winners at the ASIAD-17 will receive 50 million VND (2,350 USD) per individual and 100 million VND (4,700 USD) per team. The awards for the Para Games are 20 million VND (940 USD) and 40 million USD (1,880 USD), respectively.

Awards will also be presented to silver and bronze medallists at the two competitions.

298 Vietnamese athletes in 22 teams will compete in 36 disciplines at the ASIAD-17, which runs from September 19 to October 4.

Vietnam expects to do particularly well in 15 sports, including shooting, wrestling swimming, taekwondo, karatedo, wushu and apparatus gymnastics. It aims to win 2 or 3 gold medals.

Meanwhile, the second Asian Para Games take place in Incheon from October 18-24.-VNA