(HBO) – The provincial People’s Committee held an opening ceremony for the 7th Hoa Binh Games at Hoa Binh Stadium on September 27.
Following a parade of different sectors and localities, the
torch, lighted at the President Ho Chi Minh Monument in the historic Hoa Binh
Hydropower Plant, was accompanied to the stadium by 15 outstanding local
athletes led by Dinh Van Linh, who has won many gold medals at national cycling
tournaments and a silver medal at the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games).
Nguyen Phi Long, alternate member of the Party
Central Committee and Secretary of the provincial Party Committee, lighted the
Games’ cauldron.
Delivering the opening speech, Nguyen Van Toan,
Standing Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee and head of the
Games organising board, asked the board’s members of and relevant agencies to
exercise the highest sense of responsibility to fulfill assigned tasks; the
jury to work impartially, objectively, and precisely; and athletes to do their
utmost to show the best performance so as to ensure success for the Games.
After that, Bui Van Khanh, Deputy Secretary of
the provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the provincial People’s
Committee, read late President Ho Chi Minh’s appeal for all people to practice
physical exercise.
He said the 7th Games of Hoa Binh province is an
important sporting event which reflects the local Party organisation’s
determination to promote the realisation of the targets set in the resolution of
the 17th provincial Party Congress.
The Games opening ceremony featured mass
performances by 200 gong artisans of the Muong ethnic group and 800 students.
The show reflected the solidarity, cultural identity, and sporting spirit of
Hoa Binh, popularised historical and cultural traditions of local ethnic
groups, and introduced the province’s socio-economic achievements in the recent
years as well as development orientations for the coming years. It also aimed
to encourage the sports movement and physical exercise among the public so as
to help Hoa Binh achieve comprehensive human development and contribute to
local and national development and defence.
After the opening ceremony, the organising board
held competitions of athletics, pole pushing, tug-of-war, and crossbow
shooting./.