* Vietnam tops Int’l Taekwondo Championship
After three days of vigorous and fair competitions, the 9th International Clubs Open Taekwondo Championship wrapped up Sunday in a resounding success.
Ho Chi Minh City Club of host Vietnam grabbed 31 gold, 8 silver and 8 bronze medals in total and led this year’s tournament.
Second, third and fourth positions respectively belonged to the clubs from Malaysia with 8 golds, 11 silvers and 12 bronzes, Chinese Taipei with 6 golds, 10 silvers and 16 bronzes, Thailand with 6 golds, 4 silvers and 7 bronzes.
Two other clubs of Vietnam, Da Nang Club from Central earned 5 gold medals while Hanoi Club from the north bagged 3 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals.
* Karatedo: Vietnam bags five medals in China
Vietnam national karatedo team totally brought home five medals in the continental competition concluding Monday.
Among five medals, two silver medals came from men’s team kata and women’s individual kata or performance events.
Three bronzes were collected in fighting events, namely individual kumite for men – 75kg, individual kumite for women -50kg and team kumite for women.
The national team this year led by head coach Le Cong consists of 12 martial artists competing in kumite events and the other three in kata events.
Two other Vietnamese teams, one from capital Hanoi and another from Ministry of Public Security also took part in this year’s events.
The 2011 Asian Karatedo Championships was held by Chinese Karatedo Association in Quanzhou, China from Jul 16-25.
* Vovinam: World Championship leads off this week
More than 300 martial artists and coaches are expected to participate in the second edition of the World Vovinam Championship at Phu Tho Stadium, Ho Chi Minh City from Jul 27-31.
They will compete for 80 sets of medals in fighting and performance events in both men’s and women’s categories.
“The key purpose of this year’s competition is to boost the development of this Vietnamese traditional martial art and prepare the athletes worldwide for their performances in the arena,” said Le Quoc An, Vice President of the World Vovinam Federation or WVVF in the Thursday press conference.
In the first edition of this competition two year ago, host Vietnam was announced the champion after earning 23 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze medals.