Tran Thi Yen Hoa continues to be the top face of Hue athletics at the 30th SEA Games. Photo: webthethao.vn

After the 3 certificates of merit awarded by the Prime Minister to coach Nguyen Van Hien (shuttlecock kicking), athlete Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh (shuttlecock kicking) and athlete Nguyen Thi My Hanh (wrestling) for their dedication at the world championships and SEA Games, at the Provincial Patriotic Emulation Congress in 2020-2025, the Department of Culture and Sports was honored to receive the First-Class Labor Medal thanks to the outstanding achievements in 2015 - 2019, contributing to the cause of building socialism and defending the Fatherland.

Also at the Provincial Patriotic Emulation Congress, Elite Teacher Cao Chi Hai, former Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports and coach, athlete Tran Thi Yen Hoa (athletics) were honored as the typical advanced individuals out of 13 groups and 295 individuals honored in 2015 – 2020 while athlete Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh (shuttlecock kicking) was honored as a typical citizen in 2019.

1 - Coming from Nam Dinh Province, Tran Thi Yen Hoa was of the Tran dynasty descent. With a gift for sports from a young age, after participating in running, jumping, swimming and women's football, at age 14, Yen Hoa was selected for the gifted athlete team of the Army and then  practiced, competed until 2010 with a series of achievements in the domestic tournaments.

In 2014, Yen Hoa joined Hue sports, and just 1 year later, at the 28th SEA Games, the girl with a start like a cheetah won a bronze in the 100 m hurdle.

“Although not having won a gold as expected, I have drawn the lesson: I need to improve more techniques, rhythmic coordination between strength, speed, reflexes and rhythm. Notably, speeding up the reflexes at the starting line and maintaining the rhythm are vitally important to avoid being slower than the opponent as well as hitting the hurdle ...,” said Yen Hoa.

True to what Yen Hoa acknowledged, during the 29th SEA Games 2017, Vietnam athletics in general and Hue athletics in particular have been wildly excited by Tran Thi Yen Hoa’s “satisfying the hunger for” a gold in 100m hurdle after 22 years since athlete Vu Bich Huong “took the throne” in Thailand in 1995 with a gold in 100m hurdle and  a team gold in 4x100m

At the end of the 29th SEA Games, Yen Hoa continued to be the top face of Hue athletics when winning a series of medals in the national and regional tournaments and continues to be expected to bring “gold" to Hue sports at the 30th SEA Games 2019.

Unfortunately, during a training session before the SEA Games, Yen Hoa was injured. Despite Hoa’s relative recovery, the sequela kept Hoa unable to bring her strength into full play on the running track, and she could only win 1 silver in 100m hurdle and 1 team bronze in 4x100m.

Overcoming sadness after the unsatisfactory performance at the 29th SEA Games, Yen Hoa continued to demonstrate her ability in the national playgrounds when standing on the highest podium several times. And after being put preferentially on the payroll, Yen Hoa is both a coach and an athlete. Hoa said she has more opportunities to repay Hue, repay those who discovered, fostered and created conditions for her to shine in the big playground.

And with her outstanding contributions, Tran Thi Yen Hoa is commended as a typical advanced individual in 2015 - 2020 at the Provincial Patriotic Emulation Congress in 2020 – 2025. At the same time, she is honored to be one of the delegates to the 10th National Patriotic Emulation Congress.

2- Becoming a gifted athlete in the provincial shuttlecock kicking in 2012, the 6th grade student from An Tay Ward (Hue City), Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh with a tough figure, clever ankles and quite good reflex, resilience, craning quickly promotes talent after being fostered by Head of Provincial Shuttlecock Kicking Division Nguyen Van Hien.

After 2 golds awarded at the National Youth Championship 2018, one year later, Thuy Linh continued to win 1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronzes at the championships for strong teams, beaches and individuals.At the same time, she has become the first athlete of Hue shuttlecock kicking to win her cap for Vietnam and also the youngest athlete of the national shuttlecock kicking team so far.

Promoting talent with stable competence, in 2019, at the World Shuttlecock Kicking Championship held in France in August, Thuy Linh and her teammates won a gold in the 3 women's shuttlecock kicking. Simultaneously, she together with Nguyen Van Hien, Head of Provincial Shuttlecock Kicking Division (as Vietnam’s shuttlecock kicking coach) goes down in  Thua Thien Hue sports history when she was the first to win a gold in the world's most prestigious arena of this sport.

After the spectacular success in the world arena as well as some achievements in the next domestic tournaments, Thuy Linh was preferentially placed on the payroll, Thuy Linh was honored to be awarded the Certificate of Merit by the Prime Minister. At the same time, she becomes 1 of the 5 typical citizens of 2019 to be commended at the Provincial National Emulation Congress in 2020 - 2025.

3 - Enormously influenced by COVID - 19, but with the above titles, 2020 can be said to be a quite successful year for the Department of Culture and Sports in general and the sports sector in particular.

According to Mr. Phan Thanh Hai, Director of the Department of Culture and Sports, that the Department of Culture and Sports was honored to receive the First-Class Labor Medal in the course of contributing to the cause of building socialism and defending the Fatherland in 2015 – 2019, 2 individuals were honored as the typical advanced individuals, and 1 individual was honored as a typical citizen was attributed to the contributions and efforts of the past generations as well as each individual. It is both pride and motivation for the Culture and Sports sector to set higher and farther targets in the time to come.

By Han Dang