Pencak Silat

Nguyễn Duy Tuyến of Việt Nam on his way to winning the men's U85kg gold at the SEA Games 31. Tuyến will defend his world title later this month in Malaysia. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam will send a young but strong team of athletes to compete at the World Pencak Silat Championship 2022 in Melaka, Malaysia.

They will join with 80 other delegations at the 19th edition of the tournament from July 26-31.

Vietnamese athletes will compete in all 18 categories of tanding (combat) among 22 on offer for both men and women along with four pools of seni (performance). They are aiming for four to five gold medals.

"Apart from national team athletes, we also offer the chance for young outstanding fighters of cities and provinces to compete," said national head coach Nguyễn Văn Hùng.

"Athletes will improve their technique and competition experience while the coaching board will keep an eye on them to choose members for the national team."

Hùng and his fighters landed in Melaka on July 21 and will have several days to train ahead of their competitions.

It will be the third international event of the pencak silat team. They finished on top of the Southeast Asian Championship in Singapore in February with nine golds. In May, the team dominated the Southeast Asian Games in Hà Nội, winning six titles.

The World Silat Championships was supposed to be held in 2020 with Sarawak as the venue, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the latest world event in Singapore in 2018, Việt Nam secured six golds and finished second out of 60 teams. Singapore topped the medal tally with seven golds.

Vietnamese gold medallists were Trần Thị Thêm (women’s U55kg), Hoàng Thị Loan (women’s U60kg), Quàng Thị Thu Nghĩa (women’s U75kg), Phạm Văn Tý  (men's U80kg), Nguyễn Duy Tuyến (men's U85kg) and Lê Văn Toàn (men's over-85kg).

Apart from Thêm who retired, the rest will defend their titles in Malaysia this year. VNS