Wushu martial artist Vu Thuy Linh performs in the nanquan wushu category at the 24th Southeast Asian Games in Thailand

A young martial arts star and daughter of a wushu champion says it was sweat and tears that got her where she is today, not nepotism.

The 19-year-old says having her mother as a trainer was an advantage, but that she still had to endure pain and hardship to win international recognition as one of Southeast Asia’s best fighters.

However, some have said that Linh’s success is not only due to her mother’s training, but also her status as a government official.

“I don’t think I’ve gotten where I am because of my mother’s power,” Linh says. “I know my strengths and weaknesses.”

And indeed, she showed the strengths when she won the gold medal at the 2007 SEA Games wushu competition by defeating some of the sport’s best athletes.

Learning the art

Linh’s mother took her to her first wushu class when she was just five years old.

“I practiced it for a few days and was interested, but it was too tiring and I wanted to sing, not fight.”

Linh then began studying singing.

“After two years of song classes, I told Mom I was ready to try wushu again. But she said I would have to try my best and there would be no giving up this time.”

Linh quickly developed advanced nanquan skills, which were her mother’s specialty. But it took extra practice for her to master the more difficult changquan style.

She had to lift weights to gain the necessary strength for changquan, which she says she regrets a bit because she feels the lifting stunted her growth. Though she says she’s too short and fat, its hard not to describe the 1.63-meter Linh as both tall and attractive.

Detour

In 2005, Linh injured her knee and had to stop practicing while she received treatment in China. It was a huge setback as she ended up missing several major international events that year while she recovered.

Linh says she became very pessimistic but that encouraging words and care from her parents, trainers and friends helped her regain her confidence.

As she nursed her injury for six months, she decided to help teach junior wushu classes for children.

“I was just like them when I was a child. I felt very happy to be able to help out,” she said.

Rise

After months of watching from the sidelines as her friends practiced, Linh began to feel a burning desire to train again.

She began practicing in May 2007, before she had fully recovered. She had her sights set on the 24th Southeast Asian Games in December that year.

Linh felt a lot of pressure to perform after years out of the game and says she tried to practice 10 times harder than her teammates.

“At times it was very painful and I couldn’t walk after some practices. My teammates had to help me and I often cried.”

But the effort paid off when she won the gold medal at the SEA Games.

She says her strength is her confidence. She says she forgets about all the worries of life when she competes and only feels truly free wile performing.

“But this is also a weakness,” Linh says. “When I get too excited, I sometimes forget the difficult movements and make mistakes.”

For the future

Now, Linh and her teammates are training for several events at the end of the year: the Asian Wushu Championships, the World Wushu Championships and the 25th SEA Games in Laos.

She’s also an assistant trainer for the 14-15 year-old national squad.

The young warrior is also learning Chinese in preparation to take the entrance exam to the Beijing University for Physical Training and Sports, where some of the world’s best wushu artists have trained.

Reported by Hong Minh