Khanh Hoa's muay Thai team marked a successful year with four medals at the National Muay Thai Club Championship taking place at Dong Nai Provincial Sports Training and Competition Center from November 22 to 26.
Khanh Hoa’s muay Thai team marked a successful year with four medals at the National Muay Thai Club Championship taking place at Dong Nai Provincial Sports Training and Competition Center from November 22 to 26.
The championship saw the participation of 145 players from 31 muay clubs in the country in 18 categories of weight. Ho Chi Minh City has had the strongest muay Thai movement in Vietnam with hundreds of players practicing at ten clubs and sport centers over the city. Besides, a lot of players of Ho Chi Minh City have been playing for the national muay Thai team and won many medals at the domestic and international tournaments, such as Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat, Nguyen Tran Tu Do, Nguyen Thanh Tung, Pham Thi Mo, and Truong Thi Hong Nga. Thanh Hoa, Binh Duong, the Ministry of Public Security, Vung Tau, and Dong Nai are the other units whose muay Thai movement has been highly evaluated.
However, some strong muay Thai teams did not took part in this year’s national club championship in order to focus on preparing for the main domestic and international tournaments held in the next year, especially the 2018 National Physical Training and Sports Festival. Therefore, the 2017 National Muay Thai Club Championship was more decent for Khanh Hoa team to exchange experience compared to the previous years’ tournaments, according to Ly Hoang Phong, Head Coach of Khanh Hoa’s muay Thai team.
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Khanh Hoa participated in the 2017 championship with eight players competing in the weight classes from 45kg to 81kg. “Khanh Hoa team has fewer players and less experience, compared to the general level of the participating teams. Therefore, instead of placing much emphasis on gaining high achievements, the coaching board just encouraged the players to play well and avoided putting pressure on them,” said Phong.
Over five days of competition, the players of Khanh Hoa performed well beyond expectation. They finally won two gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal. Additionally, through the championship, Khanh Hoa had one player being given master title and one player being recognized as level-one player. Reportedly, one of the two gold winners of Khanh Hoa team was Nguyen Trung Kien, who has also been the member of the national muay Thai team.
At the National Muay Thai Championship held at Ho Chi Minh City some months ago, eight players of Khanh Hoa achieved one gold medal, two silvers and three bronzes. As said by Tran Quang Thuong, Director of Khanh Hoa Provincial Sports Technique Training Center, the facilities for practicing and training as well as tournaments for muay Thai players to learn and exchange experience in Khanh Hoa have not met the requirements to promote the development of this sport. In such a difficult circumstance, the efforts of the coaching board and players of the provincial muay Thai team to gain high achievements deserve to be praised.
An Nhien
Translated by H.N
