Viet Nam defend Taekwondo title

(11-10-2007)

HA NOI — The Southeast Asian Taekwondo Championship will kick off tomorrow in the southern Ba Ria Vung Tau Province where host Viet Nam will defend their title.

Seven delegations including Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and host Viet Nam have registered to compete.

The competition will also serve as preparation for the national members who are in hectic training for the Asian Olympics’ qualifier which will be held in HCM City on November 28-30 and the 24th Southeast Asian Games in Thailand this December.

Host Viet Nam will attend with two teams who will face tough rivals from Thailand and the Philippines. The two rivals won two tickets to perform at the Olympics from the qualifying round in England where Viet Nam failed unexpectedly.

According to coach Nguyen Dang Khanh, all national team members will perform at the tournament which will help them gain more experience for the coming SEA Games.

Khanh said that although it is difficult, Viet Nam could still win the tournaments with the participation of talented Hoang Ha Giang, Nguyen Thi Hoai Thu and Long Dien. The return of Le Huynh Chau after three-months on injury leave is a good sign. He will be key for Viet Nam to snatch a ticket to Olympics.

The tournament also gives the team managers a chance to gauge Viet Nam’s future opponents in the SEA Games to create a suitable plan to defeat them.

Truong Ngoc De, deputy chairman of the Viet Nam Taekwondo Federation, said there is not much time before both the Asian and SEA Games events, therefore Viet Nam have to step up their training.

After the regional championship, 10 martial artists will leave for South Korea accompanied by coach Khanh and expert Kim Chong-ki for a five-week training course. The course plays an important role helping coaches to efficiently classify artists in weight categories as well as to increase their advantages. — VNS