Viet Nam have developed a strong reputation in pencak silat, a martial art that originates from Indonesia, proving their power by taking seven golds at the third Asian Indoor Games.

Although pencak silat appeared in Viet Nam later than other countries regionally, Viet Nam quickly rose to prominance in international tournaments.

Although pencak silat appeared in Viet Nam later than other countries regionally, Viet Nam quickly rose to prominance in international tournaments.

Part of the secret of their success rested in the national pencak silat team’s training board’s successful adoption and application of typical Vietnamese traditional martial art moves and postures into pencak silat.

Head coach Nguyen Xuan Hai explained that “The way of attack of martial artists in other countries is rather simple, mainly an attack to the breast-plate. But this made it hard for us to score points, so we used skills from Vietnamese martial arts to concentrate on destablising and knocking the opposition down through attacks to their legs.”

In preparation for the Games, all the regional countries sent their athletes to compete at the first Asian Martial Arts Games in Thailand in July, a pre-SEA Games competition in September in Laos and the third Asian Indoor Games (AIG) in Viet Nam last month to sharpen their skills for the Laos Games.

“Of course, regional countries are focused on the Laos Games so it will be a really tough competition,” Hai said.

Because of the severe level of competition expected, Viet Nam’s pencak silat team’s training board researched their rivals for potential weak points.

Vietnamese martial artists have done well in many international events, including Nguyen Ba Trinh, Vu The Hoang, Huynh Thi Thu Hong, and Le Thi Hong Ngoan, becoming world gold medallists in 2007.

They are expected to win golds for Viet Nam in the Laos Games, said Hai.

The martial artists will compete from December 12-17.

During the Games, every country will only compete in two of four weight divisions in seni (performance), four of six weight divisions for women in landing (combat), and six of eight weight categories for men in combat.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News