Former wushu stars My Duc (L) and Ngoc Oanh now own two fashion shops in Hanoi. They say they are mainly concerned with training the younger generation of wushu athletes at the Hanoi Wushu Club.

Former award-winning wushu athlete Nguyen Thi My Duc has always kept close career ties with her older sister Ngoc Oanh.

Their busy shop, T.O.D. on Hanoi’s La Thanh Street, is open morning to night but not many of their customers know that the sisters are former world championship medal winners. Duc and Oanh retired from international competition after the 23rd South East Asian Games in the Philippines in December, 2005, when Duc was 21 and Oanh was 25.

Oanh said, “A week before the event started, Duc was seriously ill and was hospitalized; but we both managed to participate in the contest.

“She was still sick with stomach pains the day before the event started because she had been taking a lot of antibiotics.

“Duc wasn’t quite recovered by competition day, but she was in high spirits, which helped a lot.”

Duc won two gold medals for the Vietnamese squad that day.

Oanh and Duc suffered serious knee injuries during the games so that they had to take time off in early 2006 to heal.

Duc said, “We were at our peak, so it was hard to think of retirement. But we gave it a lot of consideration and though the coaching and management staff encouraged us to return to the arena, we decided on a career shift after 11 years of wushu competition.”

They rented a place in Gia Lam District to train juniors in the sport but the training center didn’t last because they didn’t have the time and the money to keep it running.

Duc began a course in martial arts at the University of Physical Training and Sports, and Oanh took handball.

Now they both hold bachelor degrees and teach wushu classes at the Hanoi Wushu Club. They come to the class at 5:30 p.m. every weekday to train children, but their fashion businesses take up most of their time.

“Oanh and I opened this shop to make more money so that we can continue to pursue our wushu career,” Duc said.

Duc and Oanh opened their second fashion shop recently.

“It’s been almost four years since we retired from international competition, so we are now just like other ordinary people. We have nothing special to say about ourselves now,” Duc said.

And it seems they are enjoying their ordinary lives as Duc got married a few months ago and Oanh is happy with her husband and her 17-monthold toddler. They both own their own houses and keep their medals at their parents’ house in Gia Lam District as great memories.

Their husbands are both bocce trainers – an Italian bowling game.

The two sisters have had very synchronous lives. Their husbands even have the same job. They say they are best friends - and being sisters is just destiny.

Reported by Le Tung