VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam ranked fourth at the World Junior Wushu Championships which closed in Bali, Indonesia last Saturday.

Vietnamese duo Vu Thuy Linh (Photo) and Vu Tra My nabbed another gold in the duilian (set sparring) event, with nine points.

Pham Quoc Khanh secured his second gold medal here in the boy’s nandao (South broad sword) event with 9.34 points.

He was followed by Xu Kai Gui of Chinese Taipei with 9.25 points, and host athlete Eric Losardi who got 9.18.

Khanh’s teammate Nguyen Thanh Tung shone in the boy’s taijiquan (taichiquan) event, earning 9.27 points for the top place. The runner-up was ULMP Perera of Sri Lanka with 7.25 points.

Vietnamese duo Vu Thuy Linh and Vu Tra My nabbed another gold in the duilian (set sparring) event, with nine points.

Canadian Margherita Cina and Andrea Hung scored 8.77 points to take second place, while He Shixing and Feng Yanhong from Macau came in third with 8.50.

Linh later grabbed a silver medal for Viet Nam in the girl’s nandao event with 9.29 points. Malaysian Tai Cheau Xuen squeaked by with a 0.03 point lead for the gold. Russian Irina Saulina stood in third with 9.19.

Although there were high expectations, Vietnamese martial artists who competed in sanshou (combat) events did not bring home any gold, despite three of them making it to final matches.

Tan Thi Ly glided to the final round of the girl’s 56kg class, but she lost 1-2 to Chinese athlete Chen Qing. Her teammate Do Thi Nhan lost 1-2 to Zao Xuna, also from China, in the girl’s 48kg category. Hoang Hong Tu made it to the girl’s 52kg final against Akbar Mohammad of Iran, but could not get the win.

Powerhouse China clinched the top position with 16 gold and two silver medals. The Japanese team showed enormous progress this year, coming in second with eight golds, five silvers and five bronzes.

The Chinese, however, were not invincible. They failed to make two of the eight finals they were fighting for in the sanshou arena, in both instances going down to their Russian opponents.

Six of Iran’s competitors made the finals, but only four managed victories.

“We had expected more, but winning five gold medals makes us happy,” Abbas Varizi, an Iranian team official, said.

Host Indonesia, collected six golds, eight silvers and eight bronzes, a big leap from the first championship held in Kuala Lumpur two years ago, when they returned home with only a single gold, silver and two bronze medals.

The second World Junior Wushu Championship featured 44 countries, 27 of which are returning home with medals.

(Source: Viet Nam News)