Mohammed Djouadj, Vice President of the World Vovinam Federation and Chairman of the African Vovinam Federation. VNA/VNS Photo Nam Thái

Thu Hà

HÀ NỘI — Mohammed Djouadj, Vice President of the World Vovinam Federation and Chairman of the African Vovinam Federation, has expressed his admiration of the host country's organisation of the ongoing Games 31.

Djouadi said he has been to Việt Nam 15 times, and every time he comes, he can feel the immense changes in this country, especially in Hà Nội. He was delighted to see the capital city adorned with lights, flowers, flags and banners for the Games.

"When I came here, I could feel that a major regional sporting event was taking place," he said.

"The Vietnamese Government has tried its best to have a successful Games, thereby improving the quality of the SEA Games and the image of Việt Nam in the region and world."

The vovinam matches, which started on May 18 at Sóc Sơn Gymnasium, Hà Nội, have been attracting large audiences who come to cheer not only the host country but also the away teams.

After just two days of competition, Djouadj said that the technical level of athletes from Southeast Asian countries participating in the Games had improved markedly. There was no longer a big gap between Vietnamese athletes and the rest.

Djouadj added that vovinam was developing strongly in many countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and America, such as Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, Algeria, Senegal, France, Italy and Germany. Vovinam has occupied a more important position than other martial arts in some countries.

However, according to Djouadj, unlike karate, judo, taekwondo or wushu, the martial art has not received much funding from the Government or business.

He expressed his wish that the World Vovinam Federation would receive more support from the Vietnamese Government and sponsors.

He said the goal of the World Vovinam Federation and continental vovinam federations was to lobby the International Olympic Committee to recognise vovinam as an official sport in international competitions.