VietNamNet Bridge – Former world champion Nguyen Hoang Ngan has returned in glory after two-year treatment of her injury, winning a gold medal at the Karate 1-Germany 2012 in Frankfurt/Main on September 22-23.

She narrowly defeated Japanese rival 3-2 in the women’s singles kata (performance) event’s final.

Meanwhile, Do Thi Thu Ha-Nguyen Thi Hang-Nguyen Thanh Hang also brought home a gold in the women’s kata team event.

However, with Ha and Thanh Hang picking up an injury after the victory, the Vietnamese women’s team, cannot attend the ASEAN Karate Championships in Thailand, where their 28 colleagues will compete in the men’s kumite (combat) and kata events.

Ngan is Vietnam’s most successful kata martial artist who has twice won the world champion title and triumphed in many Asian tournaments and SEA Games.

In 2010, she was injured right before the final match of the Karate World Championships' women kata singles and had to accept the silver medal.

The Karate 1-Germany is the 7th out of the nine series held under the World Karate Federation (WKF)’s Premier League, which attract most strong martial artists around the world.

They will compete in different categories and the eight best martial artists of each category of the nine series will join the Masters Cup, an open category with 3 yearly competitions to select the overall champion.

VietNamNet/VOV