At the 2010 Muay Championship in Bangkok this March, Vietnamese boxers surprised the world with three champions, including Phan Thi Ngoc Linh. At the 2010 Muay Championship in Bangkok this March, Vietnamese boxers surprised the world with three champions. Phan Thi Ngoc Linh is the sole female boxer, who impressed the audience and international colleagues with her modern fighting style.

Ngoc Linh (blue) in the final match of the 2010 Muay Thai Championship.

Ngoc Linh trounced a boxer from Spain using her defensive-attacking method in the first round. Luckily, her rival from Cameroon in the next round gave up the game because of injuries. In the final match, Linh then defeated a strong rival from France, Samantha Ruberu, to become the champion in the women under 57kg category.

Ngoc Linh’s gold medal is the first gold medal at this tournament and the first world gold medal for Vietnam.

Born in 1987 in the central province of Khanh Hoa, Ngoc Linh became a Muay Thai boxer accidentally. When she was a secondary student, Linh won two gold medals for weightlifting for her school at the provincial Sports Games in 2004-2005. Linh was recruited to the Track-and-Field Faculty of the HCM City University of Sports in 2006. In 2007 she began practicing traditional martial arts. Just two years practicing martial arts, she won two national bronze medals for her team (Army Traditional Martial Art team) in 2008.

Ngoc Linh started studying Muay Thai in early 2009. She attended several short-term training courses in Thailand. At her first international Muay Thai competition – the 1^st Asia Muay Thai Congress 2009 in Bangkok – Linh won a bronze medal. Four months later, she took a silver medal for Vietnam at the 2009 SEA Games in Laos.

Ngoc Linh is now an employee of the HCM City-based National Centre for Sports and Physical Training. She is also studying for her M.A. at HCM City University of Sports.

PV