Phygital sports

Phạm Nhật Thái Quang of Việt Nam's Thang Long Warriors on the attack against New House of Russia in Kazan on February 25. Photo courtesy of Thang Long Warriors

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese representative Thang Long Warriors secured a surprise victory over the hosts New House at the Games of the Future's phygital basketball event on the weekend in Kazan, Russia.

The February 21-March 3 event is an international club tournament and the pinnacle of phygital sports worldwide, a combination of physical and digital skills.

About 2,000 athletes are showcasing their superior skills in 21 disciplines such as battle of robots, Dota 2, Warface, phygital skateboarding, phygital hockey, phygital football, cybathletics and indoor cycling.

A new generation of phygital sporting heroes will hunt for a huge bonus of US$10 million.

The Warriors is the only team of Việt Nam take part in an invitational event of basketball which gathers other clubs from Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Turkmenistan and the hosts.

The Warriors include Đặng Thái Hưng, Phạm Nhật Thái Quang, Nguyễn Anh Hào and Lê Hoàng Quân in their line up. They are in Group A against New House and Oguzhan Generation Club of Turkmenistan.

Players will compete in one match of two games. After the one of the NBA 2K, a series of basketball simulation video games, they take part in the traditional basketball on court.

Lê Hoàng Quân of Thang Long Warriors seen in action during the NBA 2K game. The Warriors win both two games against the Russian rival.

The winner is the team earning higher points after two games.

In the NBA 2K, Quân and Quang came from behind to win 19-17. The basketball on court was even tougher as the Vietnamese athletes were shorter and smaller than their opponents.

The Warriors were led from the beginning until it was 13-11 for New House. It was the Vietnamese great effort to go neck-on-neck with the Russians before they made it 30-30 and forced the game to be decided by free throws.

Youngster Quang was the only athlete who successfully score points among all players, bringing the emotional 31-30 win and the overall victory to the Warriors in their international debut.

In the next match, the Warriors will play Oguzhan Generation on February 26. VNS