Holding his breath: Top Vietnamese swimmer Nguyen Huu Viet hopes to win a medal at the Asian Games in China's Guangzhou Province in mid November. — VNA/VNS Photo Ngoc Truong
HA NOI — Nguyen Huu Viet has been struggling to cut his 100m breaststroke time to one minute, but he must be faster if he wants a shot at winning a medal at the Asian Games from November 12-27.
Viet, who won three gold medals at the Southeast Asian Games, spent four years training before he was able to reduce his time from 1:03.08 to 1:01.60.
The Vietnamese star will be up against Japanese record holder, Kosuke Katajima, who broke the Olympic record in Beijing with a time of 58.91sec.
Viet, 22, has been training in Guangxi, China, and has set his sights on bringing home a medal from the Asian Games.
At the Philippines' SEA Games five years ago, Viet brought home a gold medal in the 100m breaststroke, an event the country hadn't seen a gold in for 32 years, but he failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics in the 100m breaststroke when he finished 58 out of 63.
In the Guangzhou Asian Games, the 22-year-old is scheduled to compete in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke events.
"We'll provide the best conditions to propel him into the top three at the Asian Games. However, Viet will need to try his best against some of Asia's top stars to even challenge for a bronze medal," said Viet Nam Aquatic Sport Association's general secretary Dinh Viet Hung.
"Viet has been coached by Nguyen Anh Tuan over the last year and he will fly to Guangzhou as the swimming event takes place on November 13-18," Hung added.
"It'll be really tough for Viet to cut down his best time to a minute. Although rapidly progressing in the seven years spent training abroad, his quickest finish was only one second faster than his current 1:01.60 to qualify for the final," explained swimming coach, Nguyen Manh Tuan, a former competitor in the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games.
"I just hope Viet will turn on the magic to win a glorious victory for the country at the Asian Games. He is still a bright hope for Viet Nam in Asia's biggest sporting event.
"He has just needs an additional one second to take a place on the medal podium, but it'll be a really tough job for him," Tuan said.
The Hai Phong-born swimmer will compete in the pool events with Vo Thai Nguyen, teenager Hoang Quy Phuoc in the men's division and women's athletes Pham Thi Hue and Nguyen Thi Kim Tuyen. — VNS
0 comments: on "Swimmer dreams of Asian Games glory"
Post a Comment