Hanoi (VNA) - Bui Thi Thu Thao was honoured as Female Athlete of the Yearat the Victory Cup awards ceremony in Hanoi on January 16.

Longjumper Thao overcame runner Nguyen Thi Huyen and swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien totake the prestigious trophy.

Thaopersuaded the judges and the public with her impressive results in 2017. Shewon one gold at the Asian championship, two others at the Asian Grand Prix andone title at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

Thaosecured more 90 percent of the total votes while Vien took only 7 percent andHuyen grabbed about 2 percent.

"Itis my great honour to receive the trophy. It means that people recognised myhard labour in sport. It will push me to try harder and harder for better resultsin the future," said Thao, who is Vietnam’s golden hope at the comingAsian Games in Indonesia this August.

LeThanh Tung won the trophy for Male Athlete of the year.

TheAsian gymnastics champion beat two weightlifters, Thach Kim Tuan and Trinh VanVinh, both world winners, to top the category for the first time.

Tungbagged 87 percent of votes after winning one Asian tournament gold medal andthree others at the SEA Games.

Aftertaking his trophy Tung gave his deep thanks to all people especially coach TruongMinh Sang who was always with him in difficult times.

Footballtrainer Mai Duc Chung was voted Coach of the Year.

He wona SEA Games gold medal with the women’s team and helped the men’s squad winimportant matches on the way to the Asian Cup finals.

Thewomen’s team he coached, who will take part in April’s Asian Cup in Jordan, wasthe Team of the Year.

Worldchampion Le Van Cong had no worthy rival as he won the Athlete withDisabilities class.

In2017, Cong not only won his first world title but also set a new world record.

He alsotriumphed at all other competitions he took part in, including the SoutheastAsian ParaGames and the national championship.

SwimmerNguyen Huu Kim Son overcame two strong candidates - chess master Pham Tran GiaPhuc and boxer Do Hong Ngoc - to become the Young Athlete of the Year.

Son,however, was training abroad and could not receive his trophy on January 16.

ThoughPhuc failed in Young Athlete class, he was the popular favourite for sportperson of the year.

Thenine-year-old athlete was added to the list of contenders only a few weeksbefore the deadline of the vote after he won five international gold medals. Hemade a great impression among voters and overcame many strong candidates totake the trophy.

It wasthe only category announced ahead of the awarding ceremony.

Thelittle winner charmed people at the awards ceremony with his thanks to hismother, his coach and fans who supported him in competitions and voted for him.

At theceremony, organisers honoured the Impressive Image of the Year, a photographthat featured runner Nguyen Thi Oanh helping her exhausted teammate Pham Thi Hueat the women’s 5,000m race during the SEA Games in Malaysia last August.

Hoang VinhGiang, Vice President of the Asian Olympic Council, Vice President of the VietnamOlympic Committee, was given the trophy of Lifetime Achievement Award for hiscontributions to national sport for many years.

TheVictory Cup is different from other awards that have been organised for a longtime. While the other programmes honour the best athlete in a sport or 10outstanding sportsmen of the year, the Victory Cup gives one trophy to eachwinner of different categories. 

It isthe reason why the award is considered the Oscars of Vietnamese sport, thefirst of its kind.

Organisershope that the trophy will push winning athletes forward in their careers whileencouraging others to reach higher result and gain recognition by the publicthrough the Cup.

Theevent is jointly organised by the Vietnam Cable Television Corporation, theSport 24h Company and the Vietnam Administration of Sports. It was first heldin 2015. -VNA