Phuc hopes to walk tall at Russian athletics event

Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc will be Vietnam's sole representative at the World Championships in Athletics in Moscow, Russia, this August.

Phuc's personal best of 1hr 33.36min in the women's walk is much better than the world's Standard A of 1:36.00.

Previously Vietnamese officials said Phuc had no chance to compete with the leading athletes because of the big gap between them.

However in the last minutes, they decided to allow her to compete to learn for future tournaments.

The organisers will cover all expense for Standard A athletes.

Last year, Truong Thanh Hang of Vietnam also beat Standard B to compete at the women's 800m event.