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Tet bonuses for athletes: Some strike it rich and others lose out
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VietNamNet Bridge – While some athletes achieved good records in 2009 and received big bonus from the state and local governments, most returned home for Tet holidays empty handed.


Football players are said to have the highest Tet bonuses. Dao Thi Mien, Doan Thi Kim Chi and Kieu Trinh, outstanding faces of the women’s national football squad have around 500 million dong each for their contribution to the team’s gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games 2009.

The top striker of the men’s national team, Cong Vinh, said that his Tet bonus is equivalent to a month’s salary at around 40 million dong.

One of the “richest” athlete this Tet is senior billiard-snooker player Dang Dinh Tien. With four championships last year (national, Asian, Asian Indoor Games and SEA Game), Tien said he took 210 million dong in bonuses. His monthly salary also doubles to 10 million dong.

This year the northern coastal city of Hai Phong is praised for having the best payment policy for its athletes. With one gold and one silver medal at the SEA Games 2009, swimmer Huu Viet had 50 million dong of bonus from Hai Phong.

Track-and-field players Nguyen Dinh Cuong and Truong Thanh Hang also received 50 million dong of bonus each from Ninh Binh province for their two gold medals at the SEA Games.



No money, no Tet

In the abnormal hot weather in the days before Tet festival, many athletes, including female boxers still practiced at the Quan Ngua Sports Palace. When the people flocked to streets to go shopping for Tet, they still devoted themselves to training and they had no time for Tet and preparations for parties.

Athletes who don’t have any medal last year like boxer Le Thi Ngan Hang didn’t earn any bonuses although she suffered from injuries in everyday training. Hang only earns 45,000 dong per day, except for Sunday, from the Hanoi’s women boxing team.

In Yen Noi village, Hoai Duc District, Hanoi, Mr. Nguyen Van Pham, father of female wrestler Nguyen Thi Lua was busy with farm work and waiting for his daughter.

Lua also went to Laos for the SEA Games 2009, the second time to SEA Games. However, her rivals withdrew from the tournament because she was so strong. This Tet Lua has no Tet bonus. She is now in China for training with her team and perhaps she will not go home for Tet.

“It is okay to have no Tet bonus but my daughter has been far from home the entire year. There are several days off for Tet but until now I don’t know whether she can go home or not. Without her, my family will have no Tet,” said Mr. Pham

Other wrestlers like Hoang Thi Thuong, Nguyen Xuan Pha, Nguyen Van Thang and Le Duy Hoi also participated in SEA Games 2009 but they didn’t have rivals in their weight categories so they had to return home, wasting one year of training. Without any medal, they don’t have Tet bonus.

“We are very sad but we can do nothing with it. Of ten athletes, only one or two have good records. The remaining don’t have bonuses and Tet bonus, too. We were away from home for the whole year and we wish to return home with some Tet gift for our family but we don’t have money so we don’t want to go home,” said an athlete.

PV