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Situated on a height of 700-1,500 metres above the sea level, Lam Dong has the prerequisites to develop special mountain sports and games.

Da Lat is privileged with its climate and is an ideal resort. As soon as it was founded, the French brought here some sports and games: horse racing, boat racing on Xuan Huong lake (this boat- racing club was of the

 French, high- class people, the Nguyen court mandarin, etc. and existed until 1954 and a little later). In 1930 or so, when King Bao Dai returned home from France, he had a golf- course made in Da Lat (called Cu Hill) with 18 holes, which is the first in Vietnam and in SE Asia. In 1992, the DRI Company (including DANAO-HONGKONG consortium and Lam Dong Tourist Company) renovated it to be a modern 18- hole golf course.

In the 1960s, there began to develop in Da Lat some martial arts schools, which have become more diversified in recent years with traditional martial art, Aikido, Judo, Karate, Taekwondo, Vovinam (Vietnamese martial art), and most recently Pencaksilat. Martial arts are a favourite kind of sport among the youth, especially students and pupils because they help them to defend themselves, to improve their health. Recently, the martial arts of Lam Dong have won some relatively high positions in national competitions.

Bao Loc is a town with quick development in physical culture and sports. It is considered a good experimental area in socializing physical culture and sports with about 10 sports clubs: Martial Art Club, Badminton Club, Tennis Club, Table- Tennis Club, Basketball Club? attracting about 1,500 members to practise regularly. These sports clubs have given good contribution in sports development in the area. Compared in the province, even with Da Lat, Bao Loc is better at tennis, badminton, athletics. Especially, in basketball, first it was practised as a movement, then it came into being a basketball team that has participated in the second- grade competitions for many years. In the 2000 second- grade season, the basketball team of Bao Loc ranked number three, and was exceptionally accepted by the Committee of Physical Culture and Sports to participate in the National first- grade competitions.

Another widely- practised sports game that has been developed in the province is football. Many districts such as Di Linh, Duc Trong? have 50 football teams to compete in the districts? annual football season. In 1998, the N?Thol Ha peasants? football team (Duc Trong district) 

finalized in the National Football Cup for Peasants held in Nghe An province and won the bronze medal after defeating the other 12 teams of other cities and provinces during the local eliminating matches. Formed in 1979, initially, the Lam Dong select football team competed in the A2 cups; in 1983, in the A1 cup and for the next 14 years, it was the only football team of the Central Highlands (Tay Nguyen) to stay in the group of national highest category teams. The best achievement of the Lam Dong select football team up to now is the third grade in the 1997 National Championship.

According to the statistics collected in1999, in the whole province now there are about 123,500 people practising sports regularly, occupying 12% of the total population; 2,100 households practising sports. The physical culture and sports movement has developed strongly with students, pupils, peasants, military personnel and State officials.

Still, there remains one disadvantage: the poor sports facilities. Among the 11 districts, towns and city of the province, a few have relatively adequate facility (stadium, sports house?) Even in Bao Loc, the main stadium available now is just a piece of bare land with no seats for spectators. The town doesn?t have a roofed sports house; therefore, many national competitions held here have had to take place outdoors and depended a lot on the weather. As for Da Lat, with its climatic strong posture, which is mild all the year round and daytime temperature rarely over 25oC, it is a nice place for

 practice and competitions, especially in the summer. However, because of the lack of a sports house, it is impossible to hold national competitions here. Built in the years of 1962- 1963, the Da Lat sports house is getting out- of- date now since it doesn?t have seats for spectators, the roof is low, and there are no light systems. This sports house has only been used for some provincial competitions and for the Lam Dong football team to practise. The biggest sports facility in Da Lat is the stadium with a capacity of 10,000- 12,000 people.

In the coming years, apart from planning and rearranging sports centers in the district and the grassroots levels, the Lam Dong sports sector will prioritise developing the dominant and mountainous sports and games, strengthening the Lam Dong select football team to strive for the professional rank, upholding the Bao Loc basketball team at the first rank, selecting and fostering gifted classes for football, basketball, international chess, martial arts, athletics, etc., and developing other sports and games as a foundation for the future.

Another trend for Lam Dong sport is to cooperate with the tourist sector to exploit the favourable climate, landscape, environment to develop special sports such as: mountain climbing, parasailing, canoeing, waterfall crossing, mountain horse racing, etc. As for the facilities, in Bao Loc, the provincial government is planning to restore and rebuild a stadium and a well- equipped gymnasium house with carpets used in competitions, light systems?for the town to hold national competitions. In Da Lat, a modern gymnasium is being designed. The Da Lat stadium will be built new to fit the plan together with a sports complex includes: a lodge for athletes, a hot-water swimming pool, a multi- purpose sports area?The biggest difficulty is capital, so they will be carried out in an order of priority. Furthermore, we need to socialise sports and call for everybody to invest in sports.

In the future, in Lam Dong, or specifically in Da Lat and Bao Loc, physical culture and sports will be strongly developed. As for Da Lat, social development together with the increase of demands in relaxation and entertainment will attract tourists from other parts of the country, and sports will become a promising land for investment. 

TRAN KY BA  

Acting Director of the Lam Dong Department of Sports and Gymnastics

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