Sports festivals for school students to return to true value next year

The regulations were announced on July 30 by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam during a meeting on the organization of national sports events.

They have been forwarded to relevant agencies recently.

Only normal students enrolled in elementary, middle, and high schools will be allowed to take part in the National Sports Tournament for Schools, which is held every four years, according to the regulations.

The ninth edition of the event will be organized next year in the north-central provinces of Nghe An and Thanh Hoa.

These new regulations on the organization of the tournament are aimed at promoting sports training among students for the sake of community health. 

The tourney is a grassroots-level playground to single out sporting talents for the country.

The maiden National Sports Tournament for Schools, commonly called the Phù Đổng Health Festival, was organized in 1983.

The first events were the playground for normal students only and thus conformed to the principle of promoting sports training in the community.

But recent tournaments have included the participation of professional athletes and students under training at sports schools to grow into the athletes.

That has discouraged other students from joining the Phù Đổng events because they have to unfairly compete with professional athletes.

So there have been appeals to cancel the organization of the sports tournaments for schools because they have failed to follow the basic guidelines – the playground for students only.

The 2016 Phù Đổng Health Festival will be held from August 1 to 8 and have the participation of 18,000 students and officials.

The students will compete in 15 events including football (soccer), volleyball, badminton, athletics, swimming, basketball, gymnastics, and chess.