Finswimmers aim for Asian golds in Thailand

Finswimming

Vũ Đặng Nhật Nam (centre) celebrates his win in the men’s 400m bi-fins at the 32nd SEA Games in May in Cambodia. Nam is one of the Vietnamese athletes to compete in the Asian Finswimming Championship 2023 in Thailand. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese best swimmers are ready to win titles at the Asian Finswimming Championship which will be held on November 24-29 in Phuket, Thailand.

The 41-member team includes SEA Games champions Nguyễn Thành Lộc, Vũ Đặng Nhật Nam, Nguyễn Trọng Dũng, Nguyễn Trần San San, Phạm Thị Thu, Nguyễn Thị Thảo and Lê Thị Thanh Vân and their junior teammates.

They will compete in individual and relay events in both men’s and women’s seniors and youth disciplines.

“We will send almost all of Việt Nam’s strongest finswimmers and potential juniors to Thailand. In one year, my athletes have not had many competitions so we try to give them opportunities to sharpen their skills and shine,” said Nguyễn Ngọc Anh, head of Việt Nam team.

Việt Nam dominated the 32nd SEA Games in May as they secured 14 golds out of 24 available in Cambodia. Earlier, they won 10 golds in 13 categories in the 31st Games on home turf.

However, Anh said in Asia many countries have strongly invested in finswinning so his team must try their best for positive results.

The Asian championship will feature 370 athletes from 15 countries and territories. This is the 18th edition as it has been organised since 1976.

In other news, the Southeast Asian Finswimming Federation is planned to be established in the near future.

Anh said the idea of ​​the federation had been discussed. All regional countries were seeking their final agreement and advice from the Asian Federation.

At the 32nd SEA Games, athletes from six countries, Cambodia, Thailand, Việt Nam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, took part in finswimming, two more than in the 31st event.

Anh said in the ASEAN region, Việt Nam is the strongest team and currently, finswimming movement is strongly growing in Indonesia and Thailand.

“If the Southeast Asian Finswimming Federation is established, we believe that the sport will receive more investment sources and athletes will have more tournaments to compete for higher success,” Anh said. VNS