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| Athlete Le Minh Thuan (Hue Karate) was honored to be entrusted with carrying the national flag at the departure ceremony for the 33rd SEA Games. Photo provided by the Center |
Highlights
Hue City Sports Training and Competition Center is currently training 240 athletes across 13 sports. With a workforce that is not particularly large, winning as many as 747 national and international medals in 2025 is the result of a strategy focused on key disciplines such as wrestling, archery, karate, and shuttlecock kicking, … while also making great strides in newer sports such as jujitsu, sepak takraw, and Vovinam. Thanks to the right direction in concentrating on key sports and developing promising new ones, the Center has, in recent years, produced a number of outstanding athletes who have helped elevate Hue sports on various competitive stages. These include Nguyen Thi Hoai Thuong (jujitsu), with a collection of Asian and world medals; the three sisters My Hanh, My Trang, and My Linh (wrestling), who all won gold medals at the 33rd SEA Games; Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhi, who set a national record in archery; Quynh Anh, a highly promising young figure in regional athletics; along with many other potential athletes in shuttlecock kicking, chess, and more.
On the macro level, the Center has also seen many coaches and athletes receive prestigious awards from the Party and the State. Specifically, for their outstanding contributions to national teams, in 2025, coach Nguyen Van Hien was awarded the First-Class Labor Order by the State President and represented the city’s culture and sports sector at the 2025 National Patriotic Emulation Congress; athlete Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh was also awarded the First-Class Labor Order; and coach Chu Minh Tuan received the Second-Class Labor Order.
“In the context of both transitioning its operational model and adapting to the increasingly high demands of a centrally governed city-level sports unit, these achievements partly demonstrate the professional foundation, solidarity, and determination to overcome challenges that have created a noteworthy momentum for the collective of managers, coaches, and athletes here,” said Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports Bui Thanh Dung.
Removing bottlenecks to break through
The year 2026 is when Hue’s high-performance sports in general, and Hue City Sports Training and Competition Center in particular, aim to achieve a strong breakthrough in performance, with the immediate target being the 10th National Sports Games. However, to realize this goal, existing “bottlenecks” must be addressed.
First is the issue of manpower. With 240 training slots across 13 sports, each sport averages only about 18 athletes across three tiers. In addition to a reserve force that is far thinner than that of many other provinces and cities, several events lack sufficient athletes to compete. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s sports competition system includes 63 disciplines, yet Hue currently trains only 16, with the Center responsible for 13, accounting for less than 21%. As a result, opportunities to compete for medals at national games and major competitions are significantly limited.
At the same time, inadequate facilities have forced many disciplines to rent external venues, leading to dispersed accommodation and training locations, which adversely affects athletes’ performance, form, and psychological stability, as well as those of coaches. The absence of a dedicated medical unit, despite injury care and treatment being a critical factor in high-performance sports, is also an issue that must be addressed
In 2026, the Center has set targets of 600 - 700 national and international medals; 120 - 150 athletes achieving Master and First-Class rankings; 20 - 25 coaches and athletes selected for national teams; and striving for 6 - 8 gold medals at the 10th National Sports Games. Under current conditions, these are ambitious and challenging goals, especially as Hue’s athlete pool is not expanding, while it must compete against provinces and cities that have strengthened both the quantity and quality of their athletes following administrative mergers.
According to Mr. Ho Dac Quang, Director of the Center, to achieve these objectives, the unit has identified clear directions and comprehensive solutions: reforming talent identification and training systems; strengthening the application of science, technology, and sports medicine; cooperating with stronger centers to send key athletes for training camps; expanding training scale when additional quotas are assigned; and prioritizing investment in key sports to narrow the gap with leading units. These are the key factors for achieving breakthroughs in both breadth and depth for the city’s high-performance sports in general, and the Center in particular, in the coming period.