Việt Nam to compete in four sports at 2022 World Games

July 11, 2022 - 07:43
Việt Nam will compete in four sports at the 2022 World Games which began on July 7 in Birmingham, Alabama, the US.

World Games

Asian beach handball champions Việt Nam will compete in the 2022 World Games in the US. Photo sggp.org,vn

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam will compete in four sports at the 2022 World Games which began on July 7 in Birmingham, Alabama, the USA.

Athletes will compete in Muay Thai, wushu, billiards and women's beach handball. The 11th edition of the Games will run for ten days.

All of the athletes representing Việt Nam won strong results at the 31st Southeast Asian Games and continental championship.

Handball is the only team event for Việt Nam this time round. The national team won the Asian championship title in April in Thailand and placed No 13 at the world championship in Greece last month.

The Vietnamese side, who are targeting a top-five finish, left for Birmingham on July 8. Việt Nam are in Group B with Norway, Germany and Mexico. Group A features Argentina, Australia, Denmark and the hosts.

The beach handball competition is being held from July 11 to 15.

World No 3 Trần Quyết Chiến will compete in the carom three-cushion billiards event.

The SEA Games 31 champion will face 15 powerful rivals from 14 countries, including Dick Jaspers of the Netherlands, Eddy Mercks of Belgium, reigning champion Daniel Sanchez of Spain, Seo Chang-hoon of South Korea, and Koji Funaki of Japan.

World No 3 Trần Quyết Chiến will vie against carom three-cushion billiards powerhouses at the event. VNA/VNS Photo

Billiards will be held from July 13 to 17. Chiến will face Javier Teran of Ecuador in his first match on July 14.

Nguyễn Trần Duy Nhất is the only Vietnamese representative in Muay Thai after teammate Bùi Yến Ly suffered an injury.

Nhất has dropped down from the 60kg weight class, where he won gold at the SEA Games, to 57kg, setting up an encounter with 2021 champion Phillip Delarmino of the Philippines who also won gold at the May's SEA Games in Việt Nam. 

The two will be joined by yet another SEA Games champion,  Ahmad Bin Rakib of Malaysia, who is moving up from his favoured 54kg category.

The Muay Thai events are organised for July 15-17.

Three Vietnamese athletes will take part in wushu's taolu (performance) events. All of them are SEA Games champions.

Dương Thúy Vy is the most well-known 2013 world champion along with a range of other accolades.

Vy is also the only Vietnamese wushu artist to have won an Asian Games title in 2014.

She pocketed six golds at the regional SEA Games after nine years of competition, adding two in the 31st edition in May.

Vy will compete in the Jianshu, Qiangshu All-round Women event.

Her teammates Hoàng Thị Phương Giang will perform in the in Daoshu, Gunshu All-round Women, and Phạm Quốc Khánh in Nanquan, Nangun All-round Men.

"My athletes are world high-ranking artists so we hope they can grab good results at the World Games," said Vũ Văn Trung, an official of the wushu department of the Việt Nam Sports Administration.

Wushu will be performed on July 12-13.

The Alabama Games features more than 3,600 athletes participating in more than 30 different sports.

The World Games is an international multi-sport event, meant for sports, disciplines or events within a sport that are not contested in the Olympic Games. The Games are usually held one year after the Olympics.

The 11th Games were scheduled for 2021 but were delayed when the Tokyo Games were moved from 2020 to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the last Games in Poland, Bùi Yến Ly won the only gold medal for Việt Nam in the women's 51kg category in the Muay Thai event. VNS

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