Vietnamese sports will find it difficult to improve in the next 5 years.

Established in 2009, but for many reasons, the Asian Youth Games has only been held for the third time. However, this youth sports event still has significant reference value for the strength of sports.

Weightlifter Dao Thi Yen at the 2025 Asian Youth Games - Photo: TTVN

Left behind by Southeast Asia

And based on this, Vietnamese sports face a rather bleak future with poor performance at the 2025 Asian Youth Games.

In Bahrain, the Vietnamese sports delegation only won 1 gold medal (thanks to weightlifter Nguyen Thanh Duy), 7 silver medals and 11 bronze medals, thereby ranking 22nd out of 45 sports delegations. This is a very low ranking if based on the fact that Vietnam ranks 7th in the continent in terms of population. And among the 6 countries above Vietnam in terms of population, Pakistan and Bangladesh have very poor sports achievements.

It is important to note that youth sports achievements are often not closely linked to the level of technology, science and technology, as well as the professionalism of the tournament system. The race for medals at this level is often purely based on the potential and the number of young athletes.

For comparison, in the most recent Asian Youth Games held in 2013, the Vietnamese delegation ranked 7th with 5 gold medals - an "acceptable" achievement compared to its potential. But in the event's return after 12 years, Vietnam dropped 14 places and was far behind many other sports in the region.

Specifically, Thailand is the strongest Southeast Asian team with 15 gold medals (a total of 48 medals), ranking 5th in Asia. Next is the Philippines - 12th with 7 gold medals (24 medals), Indonesia - 15th with 4 gold medals (28 medals) and Singapore - 19th with 2 gold medals (7 medals). Among the competitive sports in the region, Vietnam is only better than Malaysia and almost inferior to the other 4 sports in terms of quantity and quality.

Vietnamese sports lacks special young talents like Nguyen Thi Oanh (left cover) - Photo: NAM TRAN

Will it be miserable until the end of Asiad 2030?

The age of athletes participating in the Asian Youth Games is around U18, so the achievements of this tournament are a prediction for the next 5-6 years of the sports world. At the Asian Youth Games 2013, many young Vietnamese athletes who shone at that time such as Anh Vien, Ly Hoang Nam... also became famous later.

And with the poor performance at this year's Asian Youth Games, Vietnamese sports will find it difficult to break through in the next 5 years, and will likely continue to be "below the color" of regional opponents until the end of the 2030 Asian Games.

Not to mention the Olympics, just at the Asian Games, Vietnamese sports have long been inferior to Thailand, Indonesia or the Philippines in terms of spearheading. At the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, Vietnam ranked 21st in the continent, much lower than the 5 competitive sports in the region: Thailand (8th), Indonesia (13th), Malaysia (14th), Philippines (17th) and Singapore (20th).

A similar achievement is expected to be repeated at the 2026 Asian Games, when Vietnam currently has no generation of athletes who can reach the continental level. And at the 2030 Asian Games, the current generation of Vietnamese athletes participating in the Asian Youth Games will play a key role.

Sadly, for at least the next five years, Vietnamese sports fans will have to accept the fact that continental and world- class races will occasionally feature a Filipino gymnastics star, a Thai powerhouse runner, or a powerful Indonesian weightlifter, but there will be no Vietnamese.

At the 2025 Asian Youth Games that just ended in Bahrain, the Vietnamese sports delegation disappointed when they only won 1 gold medal, ranking below many other countries in the region.

Maintain cutting edge

The achievements at the 2025 Asian Youth Games also show that regional sports continue to maintain their strengths. Typically, Thailand, out of the 15 gold medals they won, the majority were in badminton, Muay Thai and taekwondo. These are also the sports in which Thailand has reached world class level. Similarly, Indonesia also exploded in two strong sports: badminton and weightlifting, while Singapore shined in the swimming race.

HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/the-thao-viet-nam-kho-vuon-len-trong-5-nam-toi-20251103105547131.htm