Vietnamese athletes set to compete abroad receive Covid-19 jabs

By Dang Khoa March 31, 2021 | 03:19 am PT

A female Vietnamese athlete receives a Covid-19 vaccine shot at a hospital in Hanoi on March 30, 2021. Photo by Vietnam News Agency.

Fifteen local athletes and two foreign sports experts were inoculated against Covid-19 in Hanoi on Tuesday in preparation for overseas Olympic qualifiers.

The seventeen fighters and foreign experts of Vietnam's national taekwondo, judo and wrestling teams were the first athletes to receive the vaccine prior to competing for a spot at Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games set to begin on July 23.

Coach Vu Anh Tuan of the national taekwondo team said the athletes all felt well after being inoculated with the British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca's vaccine.

A total of 20 athletes and coaches will be vaccinated each day.

Phase 1 will see about 180 Olympic shooting, judo, wrestling, gymnastics, athletics, taekwondo, archery, karate, boxing, fencing, badminton, weightlifting, rowing, and canoeing hopefuls inoculated.

The national men's football team set to participate in 2022 World Cup qualifiers in UAE during June will also get the jab.

Players from Viettel FC, Hanoi FC, and Saigon FC that will compete in AFC Champions League and AFC Cup, which still start in late June, will be part of the second group of 192 athletes and coaches to be vaccinated.

Vietnam is aiming for 20 slots at the Olympics. But at the moment, only five athletes have managed to qualify for the event: Nguyen Huy Hoang (swimming), Le Thanh Tung (gymnastics), Do Thi Anh Nguyet and Nguyen Hoang Phi Vu (archery) and Nguyen Van Duong (boxing).

Over 46,000 Vietnamese, mainly frontline workers in the Covid-19 fight, have received their first Covid-19 vaccine shots since March 8.