National Taekwondo player Le Huynh Chau recently announced a surprise
retirement, which has left Viet Nam's fate during upcoming tournaments
hanging in the balance.
Chau, 28, said he will now coach the HCM City team.
The athlete belongs to the men's 63kg category and was one
of the three athletes from Viet Nam to win a gold medal at the last
Southeast Asian (SEA) Games held in Myanmar.
He was expected to defend his title in June in Singapore and also perform well at the Summer Olympics in Brazil next year.
"I would have really wanted to compete for another SEA Games
title before ending my career, but there are many things that have
happened. I am getting old and do not feel strong enough to take part in
elite competitions," said Chau.
The London Olympian is a product of the Golden Athletes
training programme. He is one of the best taekwondo fighters in the
country and has won many medals in different competitions.
Chau won two bronze medals at the world championships held
in 2011, a bronze at the Asian events in 2010 and 2012, in addition to
winning many regional and national titles.
His absence will not only guarantee Viet Nam's loss at this
year's SEA Games, but also push the country's taekwondo sport into a
crisis situation.
During recent years, the national team has seen many athletes quit the sport at their peak because of different reasons.
Chau's retirement is not an exception.
Asian Games' first runner-up Nguyen Thi Hoai Thu also quit in 2011, when she 26 years old.
SEA Games bronze medallist Chu Hoang Dieu Linh refused to
experience further sporting glory after competing in the London
Olympics. She was only 18 years old at the time.
World youth winner Hoang Ha Giang stopped competing at the
age of 17 years in 2008 after she contracted the systemic lupus
erythematosus disease.
"His decision to leave is a big problem for Viet Nam's
taekwondo, but we have to accept it. It is not an unusual, and has
happened before," former National Coach Ho Anh Tuan stated.
"During my term, at least 10 good athletes said goodbye,
including my beloved fighter Chu Hoang Dieu Linh, who quit just one
month after her first Olympics. She had worked really hard to attain
world-class sports competitiveness."
According to the coach, the reason for the sudden exits is
that there is no suitable policy in place that helps athletes focus
completely on sports.
"We are always worried about athletes in the 12th grade,
especially about which sport they should follow, or which university
they should apply to. If they choose a university, their future is wide
open, but if they choose sports, they are made to undergo hard training
and asked to participate in competitions for a meagre salary. None of
the parents are happy or feel secure when their children express a wish
to become professional athletes," said Tuan.
"To understand why Viet Nam's taekwondo team has fallen
apart, we just need to compare our current efforts with our global
standing in the past. We are now at mid-level, while two decades back,
we were the leaders in the sport." Tuan explained, adding that this is
also why Viet Nam should not consider competing for an Olympic medal in
Brazil next year.
"Olympic medals are incredible no matter how hard we try. A
feasible and reliable target is to first win tickets to Brazil. However,
I am not sure if we can make an impact like Tran Hieu Ngan did when she
won a silver medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. We will not do well
as the world is very different now," he added.
Nguyen Hong Minh, the former head of the National Sport Administration's Elite Sport Department, echoed this view.
"For the longest time, whenever an Olympics or Asian Games
event was approaching, taekwondo was considered the key sport for Viet
Nam. But in my experience, that was only the case till about a decade
ago," Minh said.
"It is easy to explain. The world has changed, but we still
follow out-of-date training techniques. I myself saw our players do
nothing, but only defend the diverse attacks from rivals during the
Athens Olympics in 2004.
"The latter generation, including Chau, Thu and Linh were
capable of winning medals, but they were left far behind by the world's
leading athletes," Minh noted.
Both Minh and Tuan believe that it is time to rebuild the sport from scratch.
Truong Ngoc De, chairman of the Viet Nam Teakwondo
Federation, said shortcomings still exist and there are many challenges,
but there is still hope that the new plans will be executed better in
2015.
"The federation will also focus on training elite athletes
to take part in international competitions, while coaches will be
updated with new techniques, knowledge and regulations," said De at a
review conference on January 22.
"A plan to promote taekwondo among athletes will be
implemented so that the sport can become stronger from 2015 onwards," he
added.
This year, taekwondo will figure during some tournaments,
including the ASEAN championships in March, the 28th SEA Games in June,
and the World Poomsae Championships in November.
Source: VNS
