Hanoi (VNA) – Sports imported from abroad have a huge success in Vietnam thanks to the passion that drives those who practice them. Baseball and field hockey are two favorite disciplines of young citizens.
Baseball made its appearance in 1999 in Ho Chi Minh City, thanks to the Japanese businessman Fuchiwaki. When he went there to work, he quickly noticed that this city offered many sports. Yet no one played baseball while football, swimming and badminton were ubiquitous. This is how he decided to present it to young locals. He established the first baseball club called Saigon Baseball, which was supported and developed for some time by the South Korean Professional Baseball Organization (KBO).
In 2001, after the death of Mr. Fuchiwaki, this club was dissolved. Ten years later, he reunited and formed the Ho Chi Minh City Baseball Association. In addition to promoting the sport to fans in the southern megacity, experts from Japan and the Republic of Korea also spent time guiding the design of the football field, as well as basic baseball training in the 2nd , 9th (today city of Thu Duc) and 11th arrondissements.
First National Baseball Tournament
So far, baseball has made great strides in Ho Chi Minh City, starting from a model combining amateur baseball practice with training clubs, attracting many young people, especially the expatriate community.
According to Lê Dang Phuong Vu, a former member of the national baseball team, there are currently about 12 baseball clubs across the country. Most are in the southern megalopolis.
One of the difficulties baseball in the city faces is the lack of a qualified field to practice on. Currently, the big clubs train in the grounds of Thu Duc City or the Sports Training and Competition Center in Ho Chi Minh City, while a number of smaller teams play in the parks, and even on the vacant lots behind the houses.
The initial investment when participating in baseball is also quite costly. A medium-sized glove costs nearly 2 million VND. A good catcher’s suit is 30 million VND. It is partly for these reasons that in the past it was difficult for clubs to develop, for lack of the correct equipment. “But now, more and more clubs and teams are receiving financial or material aid from companies and sponsors. So they have more opportunities to progress quickly,” Phuong Vu added.
The first National Baseball Club Cup took place at the end of July in the southern megalopolis. Organized by the Vietnam Baseball and Softball Federation and the city’s Baseball Association, this event saw the participation of eight clubs, including three from the southern megalopolis. Besides the purpose of promoting and developing baseball in the community, this cup also provided a great opportunity for Vietnamese baseball to seek and discover talent, creating a basis for forming a Vietnamese team capable of participating in future international tournaments.
Field hockey in vogue
Field hockey landed in Vietnam in 2007. It quickly made a name for itself among young city dwellers.
There was no field hockey school to speak of for many years. But there were a few clubs in Da Nang (Center) and Ho Chi Minh City. The athletes behind these clubs already had a certain level, which enabled them to pass on their skills. The Saigon Tornados and Saigon International clubs have marked the trend in the practice and competition of this sport.
In 2013, the national field hockey team, most of whose members are from Saigon, participated in the 27th Southeast Asian Games played in Myanmar. It was also the first time that Vietnamese hockey was on the international stage. After that, this team went on to represent Vietnam in the 2016 World League Qualifiers in Singapore and the 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia.
In recent years, the hockey practice and competition movement has grown quite rapidly, has become more methodical and professional, and has attracted public attention. In 2019, the Vietnam Hockey Festival organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Hockey Federation saw the participation of 25 teams from 7 countries and territories. At that time, Vietnam had eight teams participating in the competition, consisting mainly of students from many universities in the city.
Field hockey has gradually crept into the sports world of the southern megalopolis, even becoming a sport to choose from in the city’s physical education program. It is taught in a few universities, including Tôn Duc Thang and Hông Bang.
The Field Hockey Federation of the Southern Megacity was born in 2020, becoming an important milestone in the development of the sport in the city, bringing hockey closer to the community. From coordination with schools to bring the material to school, to the search for new elements for the team, to the organization of training programs for coaches, referees and junior monitors organized by the federation.
Nguyên Hà Truong Hai, president of the Ho Chi Minh City Field Hockey Federation, said that after a period of temporary stagnation due to the epidemic, a series of events aimed at promoting the movement of the sport are taking place. would hold consecutively in the near future. It was the field hockey tournament as part of the 9th city sports games, which took place on July 30.
Next November, the southern megalopolis will organize an international tournament with the participation of teams from 10 to 15 countries and territories. -CVN/VNA
