Kickboxing

Đinh Thị Hoa of Việt Nam (left) announced winner of the women's 65kg, lowkick class at the Asian Kickboxing Championships on October 12 night in Cambodia. Photo courtesy of the Việt Nam Sports Team

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese fighters won six golds at the ongoing Asian Kickboxing Championships on October 12 in an exciting night in Cambodia.

Việt Nam sent 32 competitors to the tournament and 21 have secured 22 slots in the finals.

Six of them were successful taking high podium finishes, all in the women's categories, in the first finals day.

Bùi Thị Yến Nhi won in the 48kg, lowkick, Phạm Huỳnh Yến My triumphed in the 60kg, lowkick, Đinh Thị Hoa topped the 65kg, lowkick, Lê Thị Nhi claimed 52kg, fullcontact title, Nguyễn Ngọc Ngân mastered the 56kg, fullcontact and Trần Võ Song Thương secured 60kg, fullcontact gold.

Among them Hoa made up an impressive victory as she overshadowed Subba Anjali of India in the final match after beating an Indonesian rival in only one minute in early round.

The Vietnamese martial artists also took five silvers and six bronzes. They currently rank third in the medal tally, standing below Uzbekistan (eight golds) and Kazakhstan (six golds, eight silvers).

Việt Nam head coach Dương Ngọc Hải said Vietnamese athletes were well prepared for the tournament and their wins accurately proved their abilities that they showed during training.

Taking part in the Phnom Penh event, they were asked to give best not only their expertise but also to be sporting ambassadors for Việt Nam's culture, country and people to international friends. They would definitely learn a lot from countries where kickboxing strongly develops such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, he said.

With six golds the team exceeded their target of three golds set prior to the tournament. Fighters are expected to win more golds as there will be another set of finals on October 13. VNS