Ha Noi (VNA) – Wrestlers Nguyen Thi Loc took home a gold medal from the women’s 44kg division of the Asian Junior Wrestling Championships in the Philippines on July 9.
Loc, who has been recruited by the national team in preparation for the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand this December, showed her good form in the freestyle category against strong rivals from Japan, the Republic of Korea and China to win the first gold.
Overall Viet Nam’s 12-member squad bagged a total gold and two silver medals including Le Thi Trang who grabbed another gold medal in the women’s 51 kg division. The two silver medals went to Pham Thi Hue in the 55 kg and Dang Thi Van in the 48 kg classes. However, the Vietnamese men were unsuccessful in the freestyle and Greco-Roman events.
According to the wrestling section chief of the Committee for Sports and Physical Culture, Le Ngoc Minh, the women’s national wrestling team is preparing for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Trang, a 2004 Asian Wrestling Championships silver medalist, is Viet Nam’s best chances for Olympic triumph, according to Minh, who is also vice chairman and general secretary of the Southeast Asian Wrestling Federation.
Currently, Viet Nam has one of the strongest women’s teams in Asia, after China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan and Uzbeskistan.
In 2005, Nghiem Thi Giang pocketed a bronze at the Asia Junior Freestyle and Greco-Roman Wrestling Tournament in Wuhan City, China, while Nguyen Thi Hang won a silver medal at the World Junior Wrestling Championships in Lithuania.
Women’s wrestling has become more popular since the sport was re-established at the 19th SEA Games in Indonesia 10 years ago.-Enditem
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