Meeting
to announce the establishment of the Southeast Asian Vovinam Federation (SEAVF)
was held in Cambodia
on Tuesday, a token of the wide spreading of the Vietnamese martial arts after
the world federation and the Asian federation were set up in 2008 and February
this year respectively.

Representatives
of five countries including Vietnam,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos
and Cambodia
attended the event.

Thailand and Brunei
didn’t attend the ceremony, but they technically support the establishment
since the two are members of the World Vovinam Federation from 2008.

At the
meeting, delegates voted Cambodian Vovinam Federation chairman Rat Sokhorn as
SEAVF chairman. Vo Danh Hai from Vietnam
and three representatives from Indonesia,
Laos and Malaysia are
vice chairmen.

Last
year, Vovinam was approved to be included for official competition at the 2011
Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta
in November.

Vovinam,
created in 1938 in Hanoi
by Master Nguyen Loc, is now popular in around 35 countries and territories
where there are hundreds of thousands of practitioners.

The
fighting technique, which involves both unarmed and weapons combat, uses the
opponent’s momentum to counterattack. Its range of techniques includes the use
of hands, elbows, and legs to throw, wrestle, and lever.

Source: Tuoi Tre