Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam traditional martial arts (Vovinam) will be anofficial sport at the upcoming ASEAN University Games.
Southeast Asian Vovinam Federation Vice President Nguyen Binh Dinh said thatthe University Games’ organisers on January 7 agreed to add Vovinam as anevent at the festival.
"We lobbied for Vovinam during a meeting with the organisers andrepresentatives of different relevant bodies in Myanmar, the hosts of theGames. And it is a great news that they agreed with us," Dinh was quotedas saying on Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper.
According to Dinh, one of the reasons that convinced the organisers wasthat Vovinam had been strongly developed in many countries in the region, suchas Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia and Myanmar. Among the Vovinam trainees, manyare students.
As a result, Vovinam will be one of the 17 martial arts at the December Games.
There will be 17 sets of medals available at the competition: 10 forperformance and seven for combat events.
The Southeast Asian Games in 2011 and 2103 included Vovinam. It was also asport at the Asian Beach Games in 2016.-VNA
VNA