The squad, including three coaches and 18 players, is ready for the upcoming ABG5 in the central city of Da Nang.

There are 16-18 nations/territories which have registered to compete in petanque at the event, such as Brunei, Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Turkmenistan, India, Japan, China, and Taiwan (China). Thailand is the most powerful one, in both men’s and women’s teams.

In ABG4 two years ago, Vietnam bagged one gold medal in petanque.

For international levels, at the 15th world female petanque championships hosted by Thailand in November 2015, the Vietnamese female petanque national team, with Vu Thi Thu, Nguyen Thi Trang (Hanoi), and Phan Thi Thuy Diem, Luong Thi Ngoc Phuong (Ho Chi Minh city), and the Thailand 2 team both ranked third place (both lost in the semi-final games), while the Thailand 1 team pocketed silver, and Cambodia’s player Keleng placed 1st in the technical category.

Petanque is a form of boules where the goal is to toss or roll hollow steel balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet (literally "piglet") or jack, while standing inside a circle with both feet on the ground.

The current form of the game originated in 1907 or 1910 in La Ciotat, in Provence, France.

Starting around 2005, red plastic "prefabricated" circles were introduced and are now widely used. A circle drawn on the ground must be 35-50 cm in diameter, while a plastic circle must have an inside diameter of 50 cm. A steel ball weighs 650-750g, with a diameter of 7.05cm-7.50cm.

The game is normally played on hard dirt or gravel. It can be played in public areas in parks, or in dedicated facilities called boulodromes. Similar games are bocce, bowls and (adapted to ice) curling.

Imported to Vietnam in the 1940s, it was an official competition event at the Malaysia-hosted 21st SEA Games in 2001. Vietnam, that year, pocketed two bronze medals for inpidual events./.

( VNF )