Two “golden” girls in the martial arts village of Binh Thuan, at first glance, few people would think they are martial arts athletes. With a petite and extremely gentle figure, they have an impressive record of achievements with a collection of gold medals in national and international tournaments. They are national taekwondo grandmaster Tran Phuong Nhung and national karate grandmaster Nguyen Do Nhu Hang.
Tran Phuong Nhung - singing the national anthem and crying in a foreign land
That was the emotional sharing of Phuong Nhung when she just won the first world gold medal in her life at the World Taekwondo Boxing Championship in Hong Kong which took place in early December 2024. Nhung shared: This is the first time I have participated in a major tournament and won the highest medal. At the moment my name was called to receive the award, I burst into tears because of so many emotions with the two words "Vietnam". For Nhung, this is a fairly large tournament with over 1,700 athletes from 77 countries around the world. To achieve this great result, Nhung spent a lot of time practicing, facing painful injuries, thinking that she could not pursue a martial arts career. Although she is a final year student majoring in Physical Education at the University of Physical Education and Sports in Ho Chi Minh City, the study program is quite heavy compared to previous years, but Nhung has arranged a suitable time to follow the national team to practice.
As a girl who is passionate about sports, especially martial arts, at the age of 8, Nhung asked her mother to let her enroll in a martial arts class near her home, and she has been practicing martial arts ever since. “Once I suffered a serious injury, a torn ligament that required surgery, and my parents prevented me from pursuing martial arts anymore. At those times, I was really sad,” Nhung confided.
After 14 years of pursuing her passion, "golden girl" Phuong Nhung has won more than 20 gold, silver, and bronze medals at national championships from 2017 to 2024, and countless achievements in provincial tournaments.
“The first time I heard that I was selected to compete internationally in 2024, I was overwhelmed with happiness. This is a great opportunity for me to prove my ability, but it is also a big challenge that requires me to practice harder,” Phuong Nhung recalled.
Nhung is the fourth child in a family of four sisters in Gia An commune - Tanh Linh district. Knowing that her parents are poor, farming is difficult for her to support during her university years. With the monthly training allowance from the national team, she has covered her own tuition fees since her first year. When asked about her future plans, Nhung hopes to be selected and compete in the upcoming 2025 Seagame. Currently, she is still trying her best to practice to fulfill her dream.
Nguyen Do Nhu Hang – practicing martial arts to earn money to go to university
Although she was passionate about martial arts, her family was very poor. Her mother worked alone to support several mouths, and the school fees were not enough to pay for martial arts classes. When she was only in 8th grade, Hang had to work part-time to support her family and pay for her studies. During her days off, Hang followed her friends to the martial arts studio and asked to learn. Then she fell in love with karate until now. Gentle, polite, and hard-working, throughout her high school years, she regularly participated in the province's amateur karate class despite her family's poor financial situation. Because of her talent for competitive fighting, Hang was recruited into the province's gifted class. Since then, the female athlete continued to practice and compete, achieving many impressive results with 2 bronze medals at the national tournament, 3 bronze medals at the Central Highlands tournament, 2 gold medals and 1 silver medal at the open tournament. Not only achieving many achievements in sports, Hang also has many outstanding achievements in studying. Won 3rd prize in the IT subject of the provincial excellent student exam, and achieved high scores in other subjects. In 2023, Hang won a bronze medal at the National Karate Club Championship. This was the premise for Hang to officially become a provincial karate athlete and have the opportunity to compete, rub shoulders with other athletes more, and have an additional source of income to support herself. "Thanks to participating in the national athlete team, I have a monthly allowance to cover my own study expenses, this is also the only source for me to be able to enter university," Hang said.
Being a first-year student of Business Accounting at Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics, Hang always balances her time to work part-time, practice and study. With the thought of always being optimistic, trying her best, good things will come. During her years at Tran Hung Dao High School, she received scholarships for poor students from the school and the ward. Most recently, she received a scholarship to support new students in the Southeast region of Tuoi Tre Newspaper. These are great sources of motivation for her to always strive to excel even though there will be many difficulties ahead. Talking about her dream for the new year, Hang just hopes to have enough money to continue going to university.
Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/ngay-xuan-gap-2-kien-tuong-quoc-gia-127810.html
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