Thanks to Badminton Asia's continued development programs, three countries – Vietnam, Myanmar and Mongolia – reaped the benefits from the third Asia Olympic Program training camp which was held in Bac Ninh Province in Vietnam.
The two-week camp was held at the Bac Ninh Sport University from March 5-18 – featuring 14 players under the watchful eyes of to coaches. The head coach was Badminton Asia's development executive Muhammad Andy Ardiansyah who was assisted by Vietnam national coach Phu Toan Tien.
This is Badminton Asia's third AOP Regional Training Camp this year. The first two were held in Malaysia and Iran.
The Southeast and East Asia AOP Regional Training Camp in Bac Ninh was held in conjunction with the Ciputra Hanoi-Yonex Sunrise Vietnam International Challenge which will be held from 20th to 25th March 2018.
The main objective of the program, apart from preparing players to compete in the Vietnam International Challenge, is to identify young talent who could be the future stars of the game in the Southeast and East Asia regions.
The training camp was divided into two sessions per day from Monday to Friday and one session on Saturday while Sunday was a rest day.
Interestingly one of Vietnam's rising mixed doubles shuttler Do Tuan Duc attended the training camp to spar with the participants. Tuan Duc, with his partner, is currently ranked No 56 in the Badminton World Federation rankings.
There was another surprise when the vice-president of the Vietnam Badminton Federation Mr Le Thanh Sang treated the participants to lunch after Saturday's training session.
"Such training camps are vital for up and coming badminton players in the region. This is where they learn more about the game and how to improve their skills with the shuttle and racquet apart from the tactical aspects of badminton," said Toan Thien.
Toan Thien hopes Badminton Asia will continue to support Vietnam by having such training camps and help raise the standard of the game in the country.
AOP Players who joined the camp in Bac Ninh were:
1. Le Duc Phat (Vietnam)
2. Nguyen Thuy Linh (Vietnam)
3. Thet Htar Thuzar (Myanmar)
4. Sumiyasuren Enkhbat (Mongolia)
5. Batdavaa Munkhbat (Mongolia)
