Lt. Gen Nguyen Van Nghia, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army and head of the contest organising board, said this is the first time Vietnam has hosted competitions of the Army Games, which once again affirms the sound cooperation among the militaries of Vietnam, Russia, and other countries.
The Vietnamese team march at the contest opening ceremony in Hanoi on August 31 (Photo: qdnd.vn)
The contests in Vietnam, slated for August 31 to September 3, sees the participation of Bangladesh, Belarus, Laos, Mali, Russia, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and the host country.
"Vietnam is one of the important nations in Southeast Asia that has a modern and well-trained armed force, and is a comprehensive strategic partner of Russia," said Russian Ambassador to Hanoi Gennady Bezdetko told The VnExpress. "Therefore, Russia decided to hold such important and responsible segments of the international Army Games here, instead of elsewhere," he said.
According to Ambassador Bezdetko, after many years of organization, the Army Games is attracting more and more attention in Russia and abroad, so the organization area expansion of the Army Games is a natural process, proving that many countries are interested in sending their teams to participate in the competition.
He assessed that with partial support from the Russian Ministry of Defence, Vietnam has implemented the preparation work for the two competition events with a high sense of responsibility. "I checked the new training centre, heard positive feedback from the leadership of the Russian team and believed that the competition events will be held successfully," shared Ambassador Bezdetko.
The Army Games 2021, organised by Russia's Defence Ministry, is scheduled for August 22 - September 4 with 34 contests and 260 teams from 45 countries. Competition events are held in 11 countries.
In Algeria, the “True Friend” contest of the Games wrapped up on August 30.
The teams from Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and host Algeria competed in the individual dog race, the 300m obstacle course with dogs, the dog relay race, the AK rifle team shooting, and the guard duty.
Among the three teams in the women’s category, Uzbekistan ranked first, followed by Russia and Algeria.
In the men’s category, Uzbekistan and Russia also respectively secured the first and second places. Belarus, Algeria, and Vietnam stood at the following positions.
Lt. Col. Hoang Ngoc Sang, head of the Vietnamese team in Algeria, said having not gained high results, the team still made a great stride at this contest and outperformed itself compared to the 2020 Games and its training results.
On August 28, Vietnam secured the second place among the five teams in the AK rifle team shooting event of the “True Friend” competition. Sub-lieutenant Trieu The Bo also ranked second in the AK rifle individual shooting.
This is also the fourth time Vietnam has taken part in the games, competing in the largest number of contests so far./.