Pencak Silat artists aim to take three golds at SEA Games
Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Vietnam's pencak silat artists strive to pocket three gold medals at the ongoing 29th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in Malaysia.
At the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games two years ago in Singapore, Vietnamese
pencak silat martial artists defeated strong rivals from Indonesia and Malaysia
to win three golds, five silvers, two bronzes—and took the lead in the event.
At the Games in Malaysia this week, the Vietnamese team will compete without
some of its strongest athletes from 2015 and must navigate changes to the
competition rules. But they still hope to come out on top with a crew of fresh
faces.
Vietnam will send 20 martial artists to the Games. Fourteen players will
compete in the combat event, while six will compete in the performance
category.
The three gold medalists in 2015 were Hoang Quang Trung in seni (performance)
category, and Diep Ngoc Vu Minh and Hoang Thị Loan in tanding (combat).
This time, only Loan remains on the team.
However, Malaysia eliminated the women’s 60kg combat division in which
Loan bagged gold medal in Singapore, so she will have to take part in the 65kg
category with unknown rivals.
“Although Vietnam only competes in four categories in the women’s combat
events, they are still stronger than players of Malaysia and Indonesia,” said head
coach Nguyen Van Hung.
But Hung said the competition changes and the shuffling of the team’s roster
don’t necessarily preclude a repeat victory.
“At the Games two years ago, martial artists who had been expected to gain gold
performed unsuccessfully. Minh, Trung and Loan were suddenly crowned with success.
So in pencak silat, competitors may win without a long record of victories
distinguishing them from others,” said Hung.
“We have a team whose members are equal in quality to the 2015
team. This is a factor to help the team be confident to fulfill their goal
of earning three gold medals,” he added.
Most of Vietnam’s martial artists are young aces, competing in the Games for
the first time.
“Of course, only outstanding players are called to the national team. They will
suffer from the pressure of taking part in the largest regional sports event
for the first time. However, I believe they will overcome and play well,” said
Hung.
Nguyen Thi Thuy is expected to bring home a gold medal in the performance
event.
Thuy of Hanoi team, 26, has trained in in pencak silat for more than 10 years.
She has won world and Asian tournaments, but only gained one silver medal in
the SEA Games in 2015.
She has delayed having a child until she completes her goal of earning all
titles from world to region event.
Besides Thuy, the Vietnam team includes veterans who are world champions, such
as Le Sy Kien, Nguyen Duy Tuyen, Tran Dinh Nam and Nguyen Nguyen Thai Linh.
These players alongside relative newcomers are expected to shine at in the
matches that will take place from August 24-29.-VNA