Vuong Thi Huyen will compete in her second Olympics this summer (Photo: thethao247.vn)TheInternational Weightlifting Federation (IWF) sent a letter of confirmation tothe Vietnam Weightlifting Federation late last week.
Theletter said Thach Kim Tuan in the men's 61kg class, Vuong Thi Huyen in thewomen's 49kg category and Hoang Thi Duyen in the women's 59kg pool were alleligible to compete in Tokyo.
TheVietnamese governing body must send its confirmation by June 25. However,the IWF reserves the right to withdraw quotas or ban athletes fromparticipation based on the decision of its Executive Board in accordance withthe qualification system or decision of the Independent Member FederationsSanctioning Panel in accordance with anti-doping rules and athleteeligibility.
Inthe latest IWF rankings, Huyen is No 7 in her category with 2,902 points. The28-year-old also competed in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
Huyenis one of Vietnam's top weightlifters and has won titles at the Asianchampionships, World Cup and SEA Games, as well as a worldchampionship bronze.
Duyen,25, is fourth in her pool with 3,463 points. She won the firstinternational medal of the year for Vietnam by finishing third at theAsian Weightlifting Championship in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in January. Threemonths later, the SEA Games reigning champion brought home bronze from theAsian championship in Uzbekistan. Earlier, the Giay ethnic minority womansecured three golds from the Italian World Cup in 2020.
Tuan,who sits at No 3 in the world, will also compete in his second Olympics,following the 2016 event.
The27-year-old is a national star in the 56kg class and made his name inprestigious tournaments over 10 years before the IWF changed its system and theclass was replaced with the 55kg pool in 2018. Tuan moved to compete in the61kg category and he pocketed three golds from the Italian World Cup in 2020and silvers from the 2019 SEA Games.
"Ibreathed a sigh of relief when receiving the IWF letter. We will not lose ourberths because of doping fines as we were warned previously," said DoDinh Khang, General Secretary of the Vietnam Weightlifting Federation.
InNovember 2020, the IWF announced that two young Vietnamese lifters, NguyenThi Thu Trang and Bui Dinh Sang, failed doping tests. The two world juniorchampions received bans from the IWF.
Earlier,senior lifters Trinh Van Vinh and Nguyen Thi Phuong Thanh committed the sameinfraction in 2019.
These scandalsthreatened Vietnam's weightlifting participation in Tokyo as IWFrules state any country with three or more doping cases during Olympicsqualification starting from November 2018 may lose their Olympic slots or evenbe banned.
"Itis great that all three athletes are qualified. We have sent a letterexplaining our situation and told them that the four banned ones had norelation to those who took part in the Olympic qualification. These three areclear of doping and work hard for competitions. It would not be fair if theyare sidelined from the Olympics because of others' mistakes," Khang wasquoted as saying by tuoitre.vn.
"Inthe coming time, the world governing body may add further fines for theseviolations," he added.
Vietnam has secured 13 berths at the TokyoGames. They are in taekwondo (1), swimming (1), gymnastics (2), boxing(1), archery (2), rowing (1), badminton (2) and weightlifting (3). Meanwhile,one slot each in athletics and boxing will be announced in the coming weeks./.
VNA
