Gymnast Dinh Phuong Thanh, seen competing at the 2019 SEA Games, has secured the sixth Tokyo Olympics slot for Vietnam. (Photo zing.vn) Thegymnast was informed about his qualification last week.
“Iam really happy to receive an Olympic berth. It has been my dream for a longtime,” said Thanh.
“Ihave worked hard months with hope to have a chance at the Olympics, especiallyafter I missed the Rio event in 2016. I was really sad. After this year's Asianchampionship was cancelled, I was more disappointed because I thought my chancewas gone again.
“Butthe good news came to me this night. I couldn't even understand what was goingon. I am very lucky, thank you for everything,” said Thanh. “My effort is notwasted.”
Nationalcoach Truong Minh Sang explained that the Asian championship, which was anOlympic qualification tournament scheduled for May, was cancelled because ofthe COVID-19 pandemic. The organisers decided that two slots from thistournament will be based on athletes’ results from the world championship inOctober 2019.
Thanhclaimed 77.465 points and placed No. 75 in the world tournament’s men’sall-round event.
“Inthe ranking for Asians only, many others already had slots, so they wereignored. Thanh was one of two best athletes after them, and he was awarded hisslot,” said Sang.
Hewill be joined in Tokyo this summer by fellow gymnast Le Thanh Tung, whoqualified via the world championship two years ago. It is the first Olympicsfor both of them.
Atthe Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016, Vietnam sent Pham Phuoc Hung and PhanThi Ha Thanh, who have both since retired.
Currently,Vietnam has six slots for Tokyo this summer. Apart from the twogymnasts, swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang, boxer Nguyen Van Duong and archersNguyen Hoang Phi Vu and Do Thi Anh Nguyet have all qualified. National sportsofficials hope to have at least 20 qualified athletes.
TheOlympics will be held from July 23 to August 8 with 33 sports. Athletes willvie for 339 sets of medals.
Fiveyears ago, Vietnam sent a squad of 23 athletes to compete in 10 sports inBrazil. The team came home with the country's first gold medal and onesilver, making it Vietnam's most successful Olympics in history./.
VNA
