Nguyen Van Chieu, who has a Red Belt with four stripes (equal to the 8th Dang International Black belt), said that Viet Nam, as home of vovinam, would still dominate the events at AIG III.

Vietnam won 15 gold medals in performance events and three silvers at the WVVF World Vovinam Championships, which recently ended in Viet Nam.

“But in duel events, Vietnamese athletes, although skillful, often lose strength at the end of the match, and will face tough competitors from Iran and Thailand,” said Chieu, who teaches many students and black belt athletes around the world.

“Many Iranian and Thai players are very strong and have a lot of experience in Muay and kickboxing, which are popular there,” he said.

Nguyen Tan Thinh, head coach of the Vietnamese team, said Iranian athletes were skillful in in duals with players who had transferred from other martial arts, especially taekwondo, which is well-developed in Iran.

In the first WVVF World Vovinam Championships, Iran collected one gold medal and two silvers and one bronze from duel events, while Thai athletes had four silvers and one bronze.

Iranians reached three of four final matches in the men’s categories. They got one gold and two silver medals.

Thailand contributed three players in the finals at the pre-Asian Indoor Games yesterday. They also got one gold and two silver medals.

India, although it has only been practising vovinam since last October, showed progress with five world bronze medalists in duel events.

In AIG III, vovinam will have four men’s categories and two women’s categories in competition events with six sets of medals.

“Vietnam’s goal is to top the medal tally in vovinam and try to win at least two of six gold medals in duel events,” Thinh said.

Newly crowned world champions Phan Thi Ngoc Han, in the women’s under-55kg category, and Vo Nguyen Linh, in the men’s under-60kg category, are predicted to win gold medals in AIG III, Thinh said.

Nguyen Duy Khanh in the men’s under-64kg category also has high hopes to clinch gold in AIG III, he added.

VietNamNet/VNS