Two athletes from Vietnam's 20th Asian Games (ASIAD 20) squad are heading in opposite directions before the 10th National Sports Games. According to SGGP, golfer Le Chuc An, who withdrew from the Asian Games without competing, has been registered with the Hanoi delegation, while wushu fighter Dinh Van Tam, an Asian Games silver medallist and the key athlete of the Quang Ngai team, is unlikely to recover in time from a partial tear of a cruciate ligament in his knee. On 25 October, Thai Nguyen province also sent off its delegation with a target of 16-20 gold medals, Báo Văn Hóa reported.
Le Chuc An back on home courses
Chuc An was named in Vietnam's golf team for the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, but pulled out before competing. SGGP reports that, barring changes, she is due in Ho Chi Minh City in November.
She is the reigning national champion and holds the record of three straight women's titles at the national championship, from 2023 to 2025. At the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand in December 2025 she won individual bronze, the first SEA Games medal for Vietnamese women's golf.
She now studies and plays college golf in the United States for the University of Tennessee, so she has to fit Vietnamese events around that schedule. Tennessee have just won the team title at the 2026 Mercedes Benz Intercollegiate for women's teams, where Chuc An finished T19 individually at +1.
Golf at the Games is played on 23-28 November at Vinpearl Golf Léman in Ho Chi Minh City, and the results double as the 2026 national championship. Four sets of medals are on offer: men's and women's individual and men's and women's team. Each delegation can enter up to four men and three women. The individual events are 54 holes of stroke play over three rounds without handicaps; the team events are knockout matches of three men's singles or two women's singles, with one point for a win and half a point for a draw. The men's field will be without Nguyen Anh Minh and Le Khanh Hung, but reigning national champion Nguyen Tuan Anh is taking part.
Dinh Van Tam's injury and Quang Ngai's loss
SGGP reports that Tam was examined after the Asian Games and diagnosed with a partial tear of a cruciate ligament in his knee. It is a serious injury: he has to avoid exertion and follow a treatment plan that needs a long time to work, which makes it hard for him to compete at the Games in November.
At the Asian Games he reached the men's 56kg final, lost to China's Ou Jiaming and took silver. He is the leading name in the Quang Ngai delegation, which has set medal targets for the National Sports Games.
Wushu at the Games features 30 events, 19 in taolu (forms) and 11 in sanda (full contact), held in Dong Nai. Sanda fighters must be aged between 17 and 40. Apart from Tam, all the wushu athletes who competed at the Asian Games are expected to be entered by their home units.
Thai Nguyen's 434-strong delegation
Thai Nguyen's culture, sports and tourism department held the send-off on 25 October for a 434-member delegation: 106 officials, coaches, doctors, support staff and reporters, plus 328 athletes in 23 sports. That is 131 people and four sports more than at the 2022 Games. Báo Văn Hóa notes that it is the province's first National Sports Games since the reorganisation of administrative units.
The targets are 16-20 gold, 15-18 silver and 15-20 bronze medals, an overall placing in the 16-20 range and a top-three finish among mountain provinces. Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Duong Van Luong asked coaches to build tactics for each sport and each opponent, and to look after athletes' health, mental state and fitness.
The Games in numbers
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Main host | Ho Chi Minh City, with venues also in Dong Nai and Dong Thap |
| Delegations | 36 |
| Sports and events | 48 sports, 973 events |
| Scale | About 12,000 officials, coaches and athletes plus 2,000 referees |
| Opening ceremony (planned) | 21 November |
| Closing ceremony | 12 December |
| Golf | 23-28 November, Vinpearl Golf Léman |
| Wushu | 30 events, in Dong Nai |
Sources: Báo Văn Hóa, SGGP.
Báo Văn Hóa also lists venue changes: badminton has moved to Ho Xuan Huong Arena, basketball is at Lanh Binh Thang Arena and gymnastics has moved to Phu Tho Arena. Guests, fans and visitors could reach about 200,000. The paper says muay was the first sport contested at the Games; see Muay opens Vietnam's 10th National Sports Games in Ho Chi Minh City.
What's next
The opening ceremony is planned for 21 November and the Games close on 12 December (see also Ho Chi Minh City plans team housing for 10th National Sports Games, opening on 21 November). Golf, with Chuc An in Hanoi's colours, is played on 23-28 November. For Dinh Van Tam, any appearance depends on how his treatment goes.