The Slovenia Canoe Federation is assessing how it can support the further development of canoeing in Vietnam following an official visit to the Southeast Asian country.
It has been an historic year for Vietnam with Thi Huong Nguyen becoming the first paddler to represent the nation in Canoe Sprint at an Olympic Games after her participation at Paris 2024.
This has come as a result of the efforts the International Canoe Federation to advance the sport in Vietnam with Nguyen among the beneficiaries of the ICF's development camps.
Slovenia Canoe Federation President Andrej Ribic and General Secretary Andrej Jelenc made the trip to Vietnam at the end of September where they were joined by ICF President Thomas Konietzko.
During the visit, Mr Konietzko, Mr Ribic and Mr Jelenc met with leaders of the Sports Authority of Vietnam and the Vietnam Canoeing, Rowing and Sailing Federation to discuss how they can further develop the sport with targeted support.
They also visited Vietnam’s centre for the national senior and junior canoeing teams where several hundreds of paddlers train together.
Mr Jelenc said the purpose of the trip was to see the conditions for canoeing in Vietnam and find out whether there is a possibility of helping them with the development of the sport.
“We were positively surprised with the structure for flatwater activities in Vietnam,” said Mr Jelenc, who is also a member of the ICF Board of Directors.
“They already have a national centre where the junior and senior canoeing teams train so we perhaps just need to help them with their coaching education and maybe invite their best athletes to be part of our training camps.
“The first stage was to look at the conditions for canoeing and collect some ideas from the Vietnamese side to see how the ICF and Slovenia Canoe Federation can help with their development.
“It was a really good visit.
“We got a lot of information so now we have a better picture of how we can support them.”
Mr Konietzko said he was impressed with the potential of Vietnam and excited by future cooperations between the Vietnamese and Slovenian National Federations.
“Part of our new ICF development strategy is to bring federations together and to create mentorship programmes,” said Mr Konietzko.
“The Slovenian Canoe Federation with President Ribic will help, together with the ICF, to establish customised support to assist with the development of our sport in Vietnam.
“It was great to meet the Vietnamese athletes who want to realise their dream of competing for medals and are continuing to train hard every day.
“We want to do all that we can to ensure these athletes have the best chance to fulfill their ambitions with the right targeted support.”
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