(GLO)- Determining a strong sport to invest in high-performance sports in Gia Lai province, Taekwondo lived up to expectations when it brought home two gold medals from 17-year-old twin sisters at the National Taekwondo Championship.
Twin sisters Nguyen Thi Mai and Nguyen Thi Loan (born in 2006) are a special case in Gia Lai sports. Born in the poor countryside of Ia Din commune (Duc Co district), both quickly showed their talent for sports. At the age of 13, when participating in the Phu Dong Sports Festival of the whole province, the two sisters achieved an "unprecedented" achievement when they won all 4 gold medals in Taekwondo and athletics.
Therefore, the coaches of both sports at the Provincial Sports Training and Competition Center wanted to recruit them to their team. And both chose to become Taekwondo fighters instead of athletics.
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Martial artist Nguyen Thi Mai (left cover) won a gold medal in the women's 46 kg category at the National Taekwondo Championship. Photo: Nguyen Nhat |
After only 3 years of focusing on the provincial team, the two girls from the border district have continuously conquered memorable milestones in their careers. In January 2022, after impressive achievements in the national youth tournament, Mai and Loan were called up to the national Taekwondo youth team. In April 2022, in their first participation in the Southeast Asian Taekwondo Championship, Loan won a gold medal and Mai won a silver medal in 2 different weight categories for the U17 age group. Also in this tournament in March 2023, Mai continued to win a gold medal, while Loan won a silver medal.
Notably, at the 2022 Asian Youth Taekwondo Championship, Loan won a silver medal and Mai won a bronze medal. Loan's silver medal is also the highest position that a Vietnamese athlete has won at the prestigious tournament of the continent. The twin sisters' achievements are very valuable because no Vietnamese Taekwondo fighter has ever reached that level. Unfortunately, at the 9th National Sports Festival in 2022, both were unable to register to compete because the Organizing Committee's regulations require Taekwondo competitors to be 17 years of age or older.
Therefore, in 2023, Mai and Loan participated in the National Championship for the first time. This is a playground with no age limit and the 17-year-old girls of Gia Lai competed against the country's top martial artists. Most of them are athletes of the national Taekwondo team and are the seniors of the two martial artists with a lot of battle experience. This is clearly a big challenge for the young martial artists of Gia Lai as they have never stepped on the stage with opponents "beyond their age".
Coach Do Vu Vuong (Provincial Sports Training and Competition Center) expressed: “Following the students from the beginning, going through many domestic and international tournaments with them, I have faith in Mai and Loan. However, in this tournament, I am somewhat apprehensive because this is the first tournament they compete with famous seniors in the national Taekwondo village. We encourage them to try their best, not to put too much emphasis on achievements because they are still very young. However, unexpectedly, they have a strong will with high determination, following the strategy to achieve the best results”.
The tournament just ended in mid-June 2023 in Thanh Hoa province, Mai and Loan both won gold medals, creating a miracle for Taekwondo Gia Lai. In the history of the national championship, Gia Lai martial artists only stopped at silver medals like Nguyen Nhu Ut or Quan Quoc Cuong from the early 2000s. In this tournament, in the final match of the women's 46 kg weight class, Mai defeated the reigning champion of the 9th National Sports Festival - 2022, Nguyen Thi Ai Quynh (Da Nang). At many times, Mai was behind her opponent, but the female martial artist calmly launched accurate punches to come back and win in a thrilling way.
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Nguyen Thi Loan on the podium receiving the gold medal in the women's 49 kg category. Photo: Nguyen Nhat |
Nguyen Thi Loan also excelled in surpassing former national champion Ngo Thi Hong Nhung (Dong Nai) in the women's 49 kg category. Loan shared: "To prepare for this tournament, our teachers created conditions for us to attend an important training session with the other members of the team. We tried our best to bring home the first gold medal for Gia Lai. However, this is only the initial result, so we are determined to try harder. I hope to participate in many more training sessions and competitions to learn and gain more experience."
Mr. Tran Bao Son - Director of the Provincial Sports Training and Competition Center - said: "This is the result of the process of discovering and training athletes in Taekwondo in particular and high-performance sports of the province in general. Hopefully, they will soon be called up to the national team to have the opportunity to compete and compete in a higher-level environment. If they go in the right direction, these are the future cores of Gia Lai sports as well as of Vietnam Taekwondo".
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