LookAtVietnam – Viet Nam will have 12 competitors at the World Games in Kaoshiung city, Taiwan island, in billiards and snooker, finsswimming, sport aerobics, karate and wushu.

Nguyen Hoang Ngan.

Karakas Nguyen Hoang Ngan is a candidate for a medal in the women’s kata (performance) category. She is the world champion after taking gold at the World Karate Championships in Tokyo last November.

She also won at the Kobe Osaka International World Cup in Greece in 2006 and 2007 and the Paris Open in 2007.

Wushu artists Vu Tra My, Nguyen Mai Phuong and Nguyen Thuy Linh in taolu (performance) events and Nguyen Thi Hoa in sanshou (combat) have all won world medals.

Viet Nam rank second after Thailand in the number of athletes attending among countries in Southeast Asia.

Thailand will send 30 athletes in six events.

The other countries in order of numbers are Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Myanmar.

The 9th World Games is the eighth organised by the International World Games Association. The 31 sports, including five demonstration sports, have drawn 3,124 athletes from 90 countries and territories.

The first Games in Santa Clara, US, in 1981 drew 1,265 athletes in 18 sports.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said the World Games provided and opportunity for elite athletes in sports not on the Olympic Games programme.

“The Games, for this reason, plays an important role in the sports framework of the Olympic movement,” Rogge said. “The Games has enjoyed exceptional development since their inception.”

The World Games, in the years following the Olympics, feature six groups of sport such as artistic and dance sports, ball sports, martial arts, precision sports, strength sports and trend sports.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News