Karatedo queen Nguyen Hoang Ngan is among 60 Vietnamese chosen to bear the Olympic flame during the global torch relay in HCM City next week.

 

“It is an honour to be an Olympic torchbearer,” said Ngan, a three-time Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medallist and two-time World Kobe Osaka International Cup title winner.

The Olympic torch-bearer selection board made public the 60 Vietnamese who would participate in the HCM City parade on Tuesday.

Eighteen torchbearers were chosen by three exclusive sponsors of the 2008 Olympics - Samsung, Lenovo, and Coca Cola. The Beijing Olympic Committee selected five more and the Olympic torch-bearer selection board the remaining 37.

Each person will carry the Olympic torch 250m along a 15km course, starting from the President Ho Chi Minh Monument at the Nha Rong Wharf to the HCM City Theatre.

This is the first time HCM City has been chosen to host the Olympic torch relay.

Torch bearers were chosen for their innovation, inspiration and community spirit and problem-solving abilities.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last week called on local authorities and ministries to ensure the torch relay went smoothly, and on Sunday, he met officials responsible for organising the relay.

The torch was formally lit in Olympia, Greece, in March. It will be carried in 21 cities on five continents before it arrives in Beijing. When it arrives in the Chinese capital on August 8 to formally open the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, it would have visited, among other cities, London, Paris, San Francisco, Canberra, New Delhi, Nagano (Japan) Hong Kong and Macau.

(Source: Viet Nam News)

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