Taekwondo 

Nguyễn Thị Loan of Việt Nam (left) on the podium of the women's 53kg in the US Open Taekwondo Championships 2026. — Photo baogialai.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese athletes took one gold, one silver and one bronze medals from the US Open Taekwondo Championships 2026 which closed on March 9 (Hà Nội time) in Las Vegas.

In the last day of competitions, Nguyễn Thị Loan bagged a silver in the kyorugi (combat) discipline.

Loan was the only Vietnamese fighter advancing to a final. She fought hard but couldn't over Nivea Barros of Brazil in the gold-medal match of the women's 53kg category.

Earlier, three other Vietnamese Nguyễn Hồng Trọng (men's 54kg), Nguyễn Thị Mai (women's 49kg) and Trần Hồ Nhân Văn (men's 78kg) failed to enter top three.

With the only silverware, Việt Nam placed No 16 in the kyorugi (combat) discipline's medal tally which was topped by the hosts with three golds, five silvers and seven bronzes.

Earlier, multi-time world champion Châu Tuyết Vân took gold in the poomsae (performance) discipline's individual standard for U40 category.

Châu Tuyết Vân (second, left) poses with her gold and other athletes of the poomsae discipline's individual standard for U40 category. — Photo courtesy of Tuyết Vân

Vân was seeded No 10 and overcame all 17 strong rivals including No 1 Lai Lee Kong of Hong Kong-China, No 2 Huỳnh Thanh Vân of Việt Nam, No 3 Lui Lois Fong of Canada and No 4 Nathalie Peck of the hosts.

She also pocketed bronze in the mixed doubles freestyle poomsae with young teammate Nguyễn Quang Phúc.

"It is great that I won gold in my first tournament of 2026 in the early month of the year. It is also wonderful as this tournament is like a mini world championship because it features many teams with strong participants," Vân said.

The US Open is an event of the World Taekwondo which gave athletes points for their race to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. — VNS