Vietnamese petanque team at a training session. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamesenational petanque team is striving to fulfill the task of winning at least onegold medal at the 31st Southeast Games, according to the national SEA Games 31 organising committee.
According to coach Dang XuanVui, the 19-member team convened in March in preparation for the Games. Theywill compete in eight categories.
Lack of competition is thebiggest problem for the team during the preparation for the Games, Vui said.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team could not compete with other rivals atinternational sports events, resulting in the fact that the coaching staff doesn’thave updated information on other teams in Southeast Asia.
Prior to the Games, athletesonly participated in two domestic tournaments, which were the national and theclub championships.
To deal with the issue, the coachingstaff tried to create many competitions among them to help them havecompetitive feelings.
It’s not easy to earn a goldmedal at SEA Games as the world’s leading petanque teams such as Thailand andCambodia will take part in the tournament. However, with the advantage of playingat home and having enough time to get used to the playing ground, the Vietnamesenational team and coaching team are determined to grab at least one goldthis time, he said.
Vuisaid that as far as he knows, during the 31st SEA Games, Thailand will alsosend a squad to attend the world championship in Denmark, which means their force in the sport will be stretched thin. This is also anadvantage for other teams, including the Vietnamese team but this is not aprerequisite, he went on, adding that the most important thing is how theplayers promote their efforts and strength.
As thetournament is approaching, the training time frame will be arranged close tothe competition time so that athletes can adapt.
Inaddition, we also take measures to help them stabilise their psychology duringcompetition, Vui said.
TheVietnamese team won two bronze medals at 30th SEA Games held in the Philippines in 2019./.
