HCM City (VNA) - The Ho Chi Minh City International Martial Arts Festival 2024 officially opened on December 21, with the theme "Pride in Vietnamese Martial Arts – International Integration."
In his opening speech, Nguyen Van Dung, Vice Chairman of the municipal People's Committee, emphasised that this is a special event not only to honour the tradition of Vietnamese martial arts but also to provide a platform for martial artists from different countries to share and introduce the essence of global martial arts.
The three-day festival features martial arts delegations from across Vietnam, along with international teams from the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Uzbekistan, Turkey and the Philippines.
It aims to honour the cultural values and essence of Vietnamese martial arts, particularly Vovinam (Vietnamese traditional martial arts) and wrestling, while also promoting traditional martial arts from other countries, including taekwondo, karate and Muay Thai, to visitors.
Attending the event, along with 47 martial artists and coaches from the RoK, Kim Kyu Jig, Secretary General of the International Centre of Martial Arts for Youth Development and Engagement (ICM), said that learning and exploring martial arts is not only for practitioners to improve their physical health, strengthen their willpower, determination, and martial spirit, but also to cultivate and better personal qualities and ethics, and preserve and develop cultural heritage, and national spirit.
Within the framework of the festival, there are also scientific seminars on martial arts, specialised workshops with in-depth training in such types of martial arts as Taekyon, Hapkido, and Muay Thai, and a photo exhibition./.
