Vietnamese pencak silat martial artists training at Hanoi's National Sports Training No 1. They will compete for the top spot at the SEA Games this May. (Photo: zing.vn) Vietnam is home to many world champions and is considered one of the strongestpencak silat centres internationally.
In the recent Games, organisers cut a number of categories including Vietnam'skey classes, leading to a drop in results.
Furthermore, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in competition rules,Vietnamese athletes are up against it to make a statement.
"New rule switches since 2020 make many changes in the way of countingpoints in the tanding (combat) discipline. Our coaching board has to learn anddiscuss a lot before spreading information to athletes, as well as applying itin our training," said head coach Nguyen Van Hung.
"Over the past two years, we have rarely taken part in internationalevents, so it is hard to know how the new rules are conducted in reality. Wewere lucky to compete at February's Southeast Asian championship and myfighters did a good job with nine gold medals," said Hung.
His athletes also grabbed two silvers and three bronzes to be the tournament'sNo 1 team.
In the coming Games, there will be 16 categories for both men and women. CoachHung has his best athletes and expects seven golds, mostly from combatcategories.
Hopes are on Asian Games winner Tran Dinh Nam (men's U75kg), world champion NguyenDuy Tuyen (men's U85kg), Asian Games champion Nguyen Van Tri (men's U95kg), QuangThi Thu Nghia (women's U75kg) and Nguyen Thi Cam Nhi (women's U70kg) amongother title favourites.
"It is the first time I am to compete on home turf. Definitely, it is alittle nervous but also exciting. But I am confident that I know how todecrease pressure for best performance," said four-time world champion NguyenDuy Tuyen.
"At the recent Southeast Asian championship, I was introduced to the newrules by officials of the Southeast Asian federation before competing. Ibelieve that we have been quickly learning it by heart. I ask myself to win agold," said Tuyen who won at the 2017 SEA Games, though that category from2019 has been dropped.
His teammate Nghia, the world and Asian champion, will make her SEA Games debutthis year, and is feeling confident.
"To me, they are all powerful athletes. Thailand is physically strong;Indonesia is home to this martial art. I, however, have not had regulartournaments for years. But I still want gold in my first SEA Games".
Indonesia and Thailand will be Vietnam's biggest rivals, vying for the topoverall ranking.
Indonesia is the motherland of pencak silat. The team was also No 1 at theprevious Games in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, according to Hung, Thai fighters will be very competitive becausethe new rules make pencak silat more similar to Muay Thai, the traditionalmartial art of Thailand. Many Muay Thai athletes have switched to pencak silat.
"They have trained in Muay Thai since they were young, so they have builtstrong physique which is an advantage compared to us. However, they aredisadvantaged in terms of technique, which is worse than athletes fromIndonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam," said Hung.
"We are currently focused on improving our fitness to make ourselves inbalance with the Thais.
"Singapore are also a threatening team as they were one of the countrieswho proposed to change the rules and took part in the process. They have been trainingwith the new rules for a long time and should be much more fluent thanus," Hungsaid.
Apart from technique, the coaching board is also working on athletes' spiritand morale under high pressure.
"It is only four weeks to go. This period is very important to prepare thefinal touches for the team. We encourage athletes to feel comfortable ahead offights. We give them no pressure of medals but ask them to perform like theyare training. This would bring better results," said Hung.
"I strongly believe that they will overcome these challenges and completeour mission."
Pencak silat will be held on May 10-16 at Hanoi’s Bac Tu Liem Gymnasium anddoors will be open for supporters./.
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