High hopes pinned on Da Nang's prominent athletes at upcoming sports tournaments
2025 is a busy year for Da Nang’s high-performance sports with many national and international championships. To maintain its position as one of the leading localities in the country in the sports sector, Da Nang sets a target of 200 gold medals at tournaments at both home and abroad. Among them, veteran athletes, namely Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc, Pham Thi Hue and Hoang Quy Phuoc, are expected to have explosive performances, thereby contributing to the overall success of the city's sports.
 |
| Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc is expected to compete well, contributing to the overall success of Da Nang sports in 2025. Photo: PHI NONG |
At the age of 35, Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc is still a prominent face, receiving many expectations from Da Nang athletics. With the gold medal in the 20km women's walk at the National Athletics Championship 2024, walker Thanh Phuc set an "unprecedented" record of 18 consecutive national gold medals. Sharing her goals for 2025, the “Vietnamese walking queen” said she is aiming for her 19th consecutive national gold medal to extend her record.
Notably, the National Athletics Championship 2025 is scheduled to be held in September in Da Nang, marking 10 years of the tournament returning to the coastal city.
“I hope to win the 19th gold medal at home this year as a thank you to the fans who have always accompanied and cheered me on for the past 23 years. To stand on the highest podium of glory, I have to go through many difficulties and challenges, especially when I am no longer young, but I will try my best” Thanh Phuc confided.
Along with the national athletics championship, Thanh Phuc will participate in the 33rd SEA Games in December 2025 in Thailand.
This is the first time Phuc has returned to the nation's Vietnamese athletics team since the 32nd SEA Games in 2023 in Cambodia. In 2024, Thanh Phuc withdrew from the national athletics team because there were no international tournaments. In this return, Phuc aims to win a gold medal. Previously, she had stepped onto the highest podium of glory at SEA Games in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2022 and 2023.
“The 33rd SEA Games is the last tournament in my career, so I will try my best to have a beautiful ending. After this tournament, I will retire from the national athletics team. With Da Nang sports, I will try to compete until the National Sports Games in 2026 and then move on to contribute in another position,” Thanh Phuc shared.
To achieve her goals in 2025, Thanh Phuc maintains regular training, even during the recent Tet holiday. Her training day starts from 4:30am to 7:30am in the morning; and from 3:00pm to 5:00pm in the afternoon.
In addition to the Hoa Xuan Stadium, Thanh Phuc trains on beaches and roads along the city to change the atmosphere and bring excitement. It is expected that before competing in tournaments, she will have a training trip and practice with top Chinese athletes.
Along with Thanh Phuc, rower Pham Thi Hue is attending a short training course in Hai Phong with her teammates in the Vietnamese rowing team.
2024 was a successful year for Pham Thi Hue when she won 3 gold medals at the National Rowing Championship 2024, and 2 gold medals and 1 bronze medal at the Asian Rowing Championship.
The athlete born in 1990 said “The success in 2024 is the motivation for me to continue to strive to win more medals in 2025. After the Tet holiday, I have returned to training under the guidance of the coach since February 3. I have been facilitated to improve my professional skills when attending a training course with teammates in the national rowing team”.
In 2025, Pham Thi Hue will compete for the Da Nang rowing team in 3 national championships including the National Rowing Championship for Excellent Rowers, the National Rowing Championship, and the National Machine Rowing Championship. In addition, she and her teammates in the national rowing team will compete in the Asian Rowing Championship and the 33rd SEA Games.
“Every time I win a medal, I feel proud and extremely grateful for what I have and am having. Certainly, with the expectations and responsibilities on my shoulders, I will set new goals to break my limits, contributing to bringing Da Nang sports in particular and Vietnamese sports in general to new heights", Hue confided.
In addition to rowing, swimming is also a strong sport that is expected to bring noble medals to Da Nang sports in 2025. Along with promising young swimmers, Hoang Quy Phuoc promises to have excellent performances.
Last year, Hoang Quy Phuoc was the most impressive swimmer of Da Nang swimming with 5 individual gold medals and 5 team relay gold medals at national swimming championship. This year, Phuoc aims to improve his achievements at two important tournaments: the 25m national swimming championship and the national swimming championship.
Currently, Hoang Quy Phuoc and his teammates are working hard to practice two sessions/day at the city's swimming and diving club.
According to Tran Do Quang, Deputy Director in charge of the Da Nang Sports and Gymnastics Training Centre, Da Nang's high-performance sports teams are being given the best conditions to thoroughly prepare for the upcoming tournaments in 2025.
Aside from training activities at the city, athletes are facilitated to attend training courses at both home and abroad to improve their professional skills and increase their ability to compete for gold medals. Hopefully, with the athletes' constant efforts in training and competing, Da Nang's high-performance sports will continue to reap success in 2025.
Reporting by PHI NONG - Translating by M.DUNG
