Vietnam’s full sporting delegation for the twentieth Asian Games has begun departing for Japan this week, following an official send off ceremony in Hanoi that set an ambitious target of at least four gold medals at this year’s continental competition. The delegation comprises four hundred ninety six members in total, including athletes, coaches, technical experts, officials, and medical staff, with the largest travel group scheduled to depart on September 16.
Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra delivered remarks at the send off ceremony, marking the formal launch of Vietnam’s participation in what officials describe as one of the country’s most significant international sporting commitments this year. The Asian Games themselves will run from September 19 through October 4 in the Japanese cities of Aichi and Nagoya, though the women’s competition schedule begins slightly earlier, spanning September 14 through October 2.
Vietnam’s delegation spans a genuinely broad range of disciplines, with athletes competing across athletics, shooting, swimming, martial arts including wushu, karate, taekwondo, and jujitsu, alongside sepak takraw, rowing, canoeing, football, volleyball, golf, fencing, and weightlifting. That breadth reflects Vietnamese sporting officials’ stated strategy of building depth across multiple disciplines rather than concentrating resources narrowly on a small handful of traditionally strong sports.
Football has emerged as one of the highest profile components of Vietnam’s Asian Games campaign, with the men’s U23 team officially finalizing its roster this week under head coach Dinh Hong Vinh. The squad combines experienced players who helped Vietnam claim third place at this year’s AFC U23 Asian Championship, defeating South Korea in a penalty shootout for that bronze medal, alongside promising younger talent brought in to build depth ahead of future tournament cycles.
Vietnam’s men’s football team earned a genuinely favorable draw for the group stage, securing top seed status after their strong run at the continental U23 championship, allowing the squad to avoid host nation Japan along with traditional powerhouses China and South Korea in their initial group. The team opens its campaign against Kuwait on September 15, followed by matches against the Philippines on September 18 and a considerably tougher test against Uzbekistan on September 22, widely considered the strongest opponent within Vietnam’s group.
Beyond football, the national shooting team has undertaken an unusually thorough preparation regime, participating in the ISSF World Cup in China before continuing specialized training in South Korea specifically to adapt to climate conditions similar to what athletes will encounter in Japan. Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Dao Cuong has separately identified sepak takraw as a discipline with genuine potential to compete for medals at the continental level, encouraging that squad to build on recent Southeast Asian Games achievements while targeting higher goals at this larger Asian competition.
The overall twentieth Asian Games will feature four hundred sixty nine events across the full programme, with competition technically beginning September 10 for certain disciplines even though the formal opening ceremony takes place September 19. That staggered schedule means several Vietnamese athletes and teams will already be competing before the tournament’s official ceremonial launch, adding urgency to final preparation efforts across multiple sports federations this week.
As Vietnam’s delegation continues departing for Japan over the coming days, the country’s stated target of four gold medals represents a clear benchmark against which this year’s overall performance will be measured. With squads across football, shooting, sepak takraw, and numerous other disciplines all entering the competition with genuine medal ambitions, Vietnamese sporting officials and fans alike will be watching closely as competition unfolds across the full nineteen day tournament window.
