Digital transformation creates breakthroughs for sports

Applying technology in shooting helps athletes optimize every detail to perfect themselves. Photo: Nam Tran

In order for Vietnamese sports to have breakthroughs in achievements at the ASIAD and Olympic arenas, a revolution is needed in the training of national teams, in which the application of technology is an inevitable and urgent direction to create new marks for the country's sports in the international arena.

Digital transformation is an urgent need

In recent years, Vietnamese sports have always been in the top ranks at the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games). Specifically, in two consecutive SEA Games, SEA Games 31 (2021) in Vietnam and SEA Games 32 (2023) in Cambodia, Vietnamese sports have always led the medal tally.

However, in the continental and world arenas, Vietnamese sports have won Olympic Gold Medals (Rio Olympics 2016), but at the most recent ASIAD (ASIAD 19 - 2023), Vietnam only won a modest number of medals (3 Gold Medals, 5 Silver Medals and 19 Bronze Medals), but also "empty-handed" at the two most recent Olympics (2020, 2024). This result shows signs of stagnation in the achievements of Vietnamese sports in the international arena.

According to sports expert Nguyen Hong Minh, looking at Vietnam's sports achievements in the Southeast Asian arena, Vietnamese sports have only been successful in the SEA Games sports groups. In playgrounds such as ASIAD and Olympics, the achievements of Vietnamese athletes are still quite far behind those of many athletes from other countries, even losing to some Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. To aim for high achievements at ASIAD and Olympics, Vietnamese sports need to focus on rectifying training work from localities, sectors to national teams, especially the systematic selection and training process... This work must be synchronized from facilities to human resources.

Head of the High Performance Sports Department (Vietnam Sports Administration, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) Hoang Quoc Vinh said that currently, Vietnamese sports are applying traditional training methods, lacking high-tech equipment. Vietnamese sports also do not have a centralized athlete data management system, which is the standard in sports powerhouses such as Japan, Korea, and China. Without this technology, coaches of national teams cannot monitor the progress and performance of each athlete, making it difficult to build training plans accurately and personalizing exercises for each athlete.

Technology will help breakthrough in performance

At the recent workshop on Digital Transformation in the Vietnam Olympic Movement, former Director of the Vietnam Sports and Physical Training Department Dang Ha Viet affirmed: "Digital transformation not only helps improve the efficiency of management, training and competition, but also opens up many opportunities for the Vietnam Olympic movement to develop more sustainably in the future."

According to Phan Van Hung, Director of Technology at Dreamax Technology Joint Stock Company, applying technology to sports will support training and competition. For example, using smart devices and sensors to monitor health and measure the performance of athletes, thereby helping coaches come up with more appropriate strategies.

According to Mr. Phan Van Hung, building a big data platform and applying technology plays an extremely important role in the digital transformation mission of the Sports industry. It includes data from sensors (IoT, wearables), match analysis videos, statistical data, information from social networks and business data such as ticket sales and marketing.

These data require a system that can collect, store, analyze and process in real time, while providing predictions and decision support for managers. In addition, building a big data platform and applying AI technology in the sports field will help analyze athlete performance, prevent injuries, optimize tactics and training, and detect and nurture potential athletes.

According to Tran Van Manh, Secretary General of the Vietnam Olympic Committee, digital transformation is an effective way to help sports managers eliminate manual work, increase accuracy and save time. For coaches and athletes, digitalization helps to analyze their effectiveness from the given measurement indicators; at the same time, data analysis software will help minimize the risk of injury during training and competition as well as increase transparency and fairness in deciding results.

Regarding this issue, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Sports Department Nguyen Hong Minh said that in the digital age, with key sports such as shooting, archery, weightlifting, karate, taekwondo... where precision, efficiency and optimization of every detail determine victory, applying technology in sports is no longer an option, but an urgent need.

In the immediate future, the sports industry needs to train a team of coaches and experts with the ability to analyze sports data. In the coming time, we will gradually build athlete management software, establish a centralized national database, and invest in modern equipment for key sports. In the long term, the Department will strive to find funding sources and build "Smart Sports Training Centers" that meet international standards. Hopefully, with the adaptation to digital transformation in management and training, Vietnamese sports will make a breakthrough in achievements at the ASIAD and Olympic arenas in the future.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/chuyen-doi-so-tao-dot-pha-cho-the-thao-698754.html