Vietnamese wushu artists performed successfully at the 2017 World Wushu Championships that concluded recently in Kazan, Russia, finishing in sixth place overall with a collection of two gold, five silver and two bronze medals.

Vietnam's "wushu queen", Duong Thuy Vi. 

“Hot girl” Duong Thuy Vi brought home the opening title for Vietnam on the first day of competition, as she outperformed 16 competitors to take the top honour in the women’s Qiangshu event.

Vi was marked with 9.64 points for her performance, just 0.01 point more than the silver medalist, Heeju Seo from the Republic of Korea. The bronze medal went to Japanese artist, Yamaguchi Keiko of Japan, with a score of 9.56.

Earlier at the 29th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Malaysia, Thuy Vi also won two of the Vietnamese wushu team’s three gold medals, with one in the jianshu event and one in the qiangshu discipline.

Vietnam’s remaining title in Russia was secured on the last day of competition by Vu Minh Duc in the men’s 52kg sanshou (combat) category.

Duc finished off Arnel Mandal of the Philippines with a final score of 2-0 to take the crown, thus wrapping up a successful tournament for Vietnamese wushu.

China topped the overall medal standings with 15 golds, followed by Iran (eight golds), Hong Kong (China) (five golds), Russia (three golds) and the Republic of Korea (two golds).

Sharing with the media on the Vietnamese team’s performance, Hoang Vinh Giang, Vice President of the Vietnam Olympic Committee, praised Vu Minh Duc’s sanshou gold medal as an encouraging result. With an overall sixth-place ranking, Vietnamese wushu has demonstrated an increasing position in the international arena.

At the previous competition in Jakarta, Indonesia, Vietnam only managed to finish in 14th place overall, with just four silver and three bronze medals. Previously, in 2013, the team secured three gold medals.

The 14th World Wushu Championships 2017 took place in Kazan from September 30 to October 4, with the participation of fighters from 36 countries and territories around the world.

This is the third large international tournament for Vietnam’s Wushu team over the past two months, following the 29th SEA Games in Malaysia and the fifth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG 2017) in Turkmenistan.

Nhan Dan