Bui Thi Thu Thao will present Vietnam in the women’s long jump at
the Iranian Asian Indoor Athletics Championship this year. (Photo:
rez.cdn.kul.vn)
Asian champion Bui Thi Thu Thao is anticipated to win in the
women’s long jump event.
Thao’s best result was 6.68m at last year’s Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in
Malaysia, where she won a gold.
She was also the defending runner-up in the previous tournament in Qatar, where
she won a silver medal.
In the latest tournament of the Asian Indoor Games and Martial Arts last
September in Turkmenistan, Thao claimed a silver with a long jump of 6.36m.
"This tournament is not my top priority as I am currently not at my peak. But I
will try my best as usual,” said Thao, who is focusing on the Asian Games to be
held in Indonesia in August.
Thao is Vietnam’s bright hope in Indonesia, where she is expected to win gold.
The second athlete is two-times SEA Games champion Nguyen Thi Oanh.
Oanh surprised people at the SEA Games when she beat defending champion
Triyaningsih of Indonesia to clinch her first-ever women’s 5,000m title (17min
23.20sec) before going on to win in the 1,500m (4min 20.51sec).
In the tournament in Iran, Oanh will run in the 1,500m and 3,000m categories.
The only male athlete in the team, Nguyen Tien Trong, will compete in the long
jump pool. He had won a gold medal at the Ashgabat event (in
2017) with a result of 7.48m.
The indoor athletics event is considered a qualification for the World Indoor
Championships, which will be held at Birmingham, England, in March.
Many Asian champions and powerhouses such as high jumper Mutaz Issa Barshim of
Qatar, Indian shotput thrower Tajinder Singh Toor and pole vault competitor
Mohammad Bani-Adam of Iran have registered for the event in Tehran.
Source: VNA