With less than a month to prepare, Vietnam’s diving team has set a modest target: no mistakes at the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, which is about to take place in the country’s northern region next month.

Diving’s eight events are scheduled for May 6-11 at My Dinh Water Sports Center.

Diving and handball are the only two sports that will commence and finish before the opening ceremony of the SEA Games, set to be held on May 12.

Vietnam’s nine-athlete diving team, mostly consisting of divers from Hanoi and northern Quang Ninh Province, were called up for training in the Vietnamese capital city on January 1.

However, the training centers were under repairs for the Games.

It was not until March 16 that the diving athletes had their first training session at the National Sports Training Center in Hanoi.

They just started their training period at My Dinh Water Sports Center on Monday.

During those 2.5 months from January 1 to March 16, the team only did physical exercises on the ground.

As a result, they have made many mistakes while training.

In addition, despite being the host of the 31st SEA Games, Vietnam is considered a weak side with low development in regional diving, while Malaysia is the top contender for gold medals.

The Vietnamese diving team often took training trips to China in the past as My Dinh Water Sports Center, the only one of its kind in Vietnam meeting international standards, was only spared for competitions, not training.

Therefore, it is understandable why Truong Anh Tai, head coach of Vietnam’s diving team, has just set a target for his athletes not to make any mistake during their competition at the Games.

His medal hopefuls include Nguyen Tung Duong, who finished fourth in men’s three-meter springboard at the 2019 SEA Games, and Ngo Phuong Mai, the bronze medal winner in women’s three-meter springboard at the same event.

However, Mai has neither honed her skills through overseas training nor international competitions in the last two years due to COVID-19.

The 31st SEA Games will take place in Hanoi and 11 neighboring provinces and cities from May 12 to 23.

The biennial event was originally scheduled to be held from November 21 to December 2, 2021 but was postponed since Vietnam began facing a flare-up in COVID-19 cases in late April the same year.

The tournament will be attended by 11 delegations from Southeast Asian nations and consist of 526 categories in 40 sports.

About 7,878 athletes, coaches, and members of the 11 sports delegations have registered for the event.

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