Wushu 

Dương Thúy Vi and three teammates will compete for golds at the Taolu World Cup, which will be held October 23 - 28 in Yokohama, Japan. Photo vov.vn

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese wushu athletes hope to bring home gold medals from the third Taolu World Cup, on until October 28 in Yokohama, Japan.

Việt Nam is sending four competitors -- Dương Thúy Vi, Hoàng Thị Phương Giang, Đặng Trần Phương Nhi and Nông Văn Hữu -- to the tournament.

They are currently the best athletes in the taolu (performance) discipline. Among them Vi has the most experience, having won titles across all international levels. She is expected to top the podium in her strong disciplines, the women's qiangshu and jianshu events.

“This is an important tournament because many of the world's top taolu athletes will participate," said Vũ Văn Trung, official of the Sports Authority of Việt Nam's Wushu Department.

"Our strongest artists will take part in the event and we believe that they will achieve high results according to their professional abilities. Everyone has been carefully preparing for their performance, strictly following our plans and they are now ready for competition."

At the Asian championships last month in Macau, Vi took bronze in the jianshu event. Her teammate Hữu also won a bronze in the men's nanquan event.

Hosted by the International Wushu Federation and organised by the Japan Wushu Taijiquan Federation, the Taolu World Cup is one of six official events organised by the International Wushu Federation, held biennially to showcase the highest standards of competitive wushu taolu.

This year, there are 22 events are open to both men and women.

The Tao World Cup was first organised in 2016 and in the inaugural competition, Vi won a silver in the jianshu. 

In the second tournament in 2018, Giang represented Việt Nam and bagged a bronze in the women's gunshu. She is planning on exceeding this result this time around.

The Vietnamese delegation will leave for Japan on October 23 and will have several days to practise at the venue. VNS