Vietnamese artists dominate world vovinam championship

Vovinam

Lê Thị Hiền won the women’s 57kg after beating Arouri Amina Alicia from Algeria at the seventh World Vovinam Championship on the weekend in HCM City. Photo sggp.org

HCM CITY — Host athletes have earned 10 golds at the World Vovinam (Vietnamese traditional martial arts) Championship which is ongoing in HCM City.

Five fighters secured their titles at the Phú Thọ Gymnasium on November 26.

Nguyễn Tiến Sơn defeated Adel Safarov in the men’s 72kg class while Nguyễn Đạt Duy Long overcame Indian Ishan Verma to take gold in the men’s 54kg.

SEA Games champion Lê Thị Hiền topped the podium of the women’s 57kg after beating Arouri Amina Alicia from Algeria

Athletes perform during the world championship opening ceremony. VNA/VNS Photo

It was Hiền’s second world title after the first in 2017, making her the number one athlete in her weight category.

Two other golds went to Lâm Thị Lợi and Nguyễn Thị Tuyết Mai in the women’s duilian with swords and Mai Thị Kim Thùy in the women’s individual performance with sword.

Earlier, Vietnamese gold medallists were Nguyễn Hoài Nam (men’s 57kg), Bùi Thị Thảo Ngân (women’s 66kg nữ), Nguyễn Hòa Ân/Vũ Duy Bảo/Phan Tấn Thành/Võ Trọng Nhân (four-men team with leg grappling techniques), Nguyễn Tứ Cường (ngũ môn quyền/five-gate form) and Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Trâm (long hổ quyền/dragon-tiger form).

Cambodian team members take part in the team’s basic technique category. Photos tuoitre.vn

  In nine other events, the Algerian team secured three titles in female self-defence, men’s duilian with swords and men’s duilian.

Cambodia bagged two golds in men’s performance with staff and team’s basic technique performance.

French duo with a duilian performance.

  Thailand took gold in the men’s performance with the sword. 

The Philippines triumphed in the women’s 66kg combat. Belarus won in the men’s 90kg while Russia topped the podium in the men’s 77kg.

Italian vovinam martial artists perform leg grappling techniques.

The seventh world championship features more than 650 athletes, coaches, officials and referees from 35 countries and territories. It is the largest number of participants in history.

Athletes will compete for 44 sets of medals in both combat and performance categories until November 30. VNS