No snow, so Vietnamese snowboarder rides local sand dunes to practise
- Vietnam’s winter athletes have to practise on sand dunes due to the absence of snow slopes in the country
- When snowboarder Nguyen Thai Binh competed in the Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan, it was the first time he’d seen snow
Sun-kissed and shaggy haired, Nguyen Thai Binh swaps his flip flops for bulky boots ahead of snowboarding practice on the sand dunes of southern Vietnam – an unlikely training ground for the country’s fledgling winter athletes with mountain-sized ambitions.
Binh is one of Vietnam’s top snowboarders, pioneering a push to boost winter sports in Southeast Asia where snowfall is virtually unheard of. But it has been an uphill battle for athletes like him facing funding shortfalls, lack of public interest and few training facilities, namely snowy mountains.
“This sport is so new for Vietnamese, and we don’t have any snow to practise on,” says 29-year-old Binh.
Binh made his international debut at the Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan in 2017, joining Vietnam’s first team to compete in the tournament long dominated by Japan, South Korea and China.