News related to the fact that 14 table tennis players of the Vietnam National Youth Table Tennis Team, despite being fed a diet of VND320,000/person/day, are still often hungry and unable to practice has heated up social networks.
Tien Phong newspaper on October 2 with the article titled “National youth players cry of hungry” said that every day, after finishing the last tiring practice session of the day, young national athletes table tennis (ages 13-17) take dinner at the team cafeteria in My Dinh.
According to the description, the dinner tray for 8 young athletes includes fried beans, braised basa fish, fried spring rolls, a plate of boiled vegetables and a bowl of tomato soup. The meal is said to be just like a normal meal, yet it costs up to VND800,000. For daily breakfast, each athlete is given a fist-sized package of sticky rice and a bottle of soft drink, priced at VND100,000/person.
Still according to Tien Phong newspaper, a young athlete said, “If I eat out, I have a breakfast with noodle beef soup for VND50,000 while a lunch with ribs is VND60,000. A full dinner costs VND70,000. One day, I’m full with only only VND180,000.”
Besides, there is also information that young athletes also have to pay a sum of money to Head Coach Bui Xuan Ha. In addition, parents also have to transfer their child’s extra monthly food allowance of VND1- million-VND5 million to him.
The strange thing is, in the same month, each young athlete “must pay” to Mr. Ha a different amount of money, with a very large difference. Some students have to pay VND1 million, but others have to pay up to VND4 million-VND5 million to the teacher.
Explaining this, Bui Xuan Ha said, these are amounts of money to spend on the team to eat out, go to the movies, picnic… But in reality, the athletes affirmed that they have never enjoyed the benefits as he said.
That’s why, according to Tien Phong newspaper, most young athletes complain that their food rations are cut and “dropped” too much. Because they don’t eat enough, some athletes have to regularly buy extra food on their own to have enough strength to practice. In particular, some people could not stand it due to fatigue and had to take a break from practicing.
At the same time, Tien Phong newspaper also has a video investigative report on the table tennis player’s meal expenses. Under the video’s comments section, many comments expressed frustration and dissatisfaction.
For example: “Looking at it makes me cry. If the teacher gives me food and drink like this, I won’t be able to play ping pong and have no chance for winning prizes” or “I don’t know which kitchen cooks such a mediocre meal for VND800,000. See if there’s a shrew that’s eaten some of your food?”
Notably, on social networks there is an article with pictures, comparing a meal of VND800,000 for 8 young athletes, with a meal worth only VND26,000 per person of Facebooker Le Anh Nuoi. This article wrote “Two meals with different prices. But we will probably feel that a meal worth VND26K/person is tastier, better, and more balanced than a meal worth VND100K/person. Why is that?”
“Vietnam’s sports cannot have success, when national-level youth athletes have to eat low-quality meals every day. This definitely did not happen only with this team, and it’s not the first time this incident has happened.”
Faced with the indignation of public opinion, with valid evidence, Phan Anh Tuan, General Secretary of the Vietnam Table Tennis Federation said “The coaching staff and athletes still report their sufficient dinners, unlike the information reflected in the media.”
The story just mentioned above has made the public think of the statement of former Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan, speaking before the National Assembly on September 11, 2013 “Officials nowadays take everything from the people.”
Thoibao.de (Translated)
