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| Three sisters My Hanh, My Trang, and My Linh, all gold medalists at the 33rd SEA Games. Photo: Dinh Kien |
Counterweights and rivals
In 2001, Hue invited a wrestling expert from Ha Noi to coach a group of athletes in preparation for the National Phu Dong Sports Festival, hosted at home in 2004. After the festival, identifying wrestling as a “gold mine,” Hue officially established the wrestling discipline in 2006 and recruited coach Dinh Van Kien, who has remained in charge of training ever since.
Upon assuming coaching duties in Hue, coach Dinh Van Kien immediately went to districts and towns to recruit athletes. Following a period of training, during 2010–2014, Hue wrestling was recognized by several strongholds of the sport—such as Ha Noi, Thanh Hoa, Ha Nam, Bac Ninh, and Thai Nguyen—as a potential rival, with notable athletes including Ho Thi Phuong Anh, Pham Van Co (a multiple-time national championship gold medalist), and Nguyen Thi Quynh Diem (gold medalist at the Youth Olympic qualifiers).
During the period when Ho Thi Phuong Anh, Pham Van Co, and Nguyen Thi Quynh Diem were shining, Nguyen Thi My Hanh was still only being recognized at several national youth tournaments. However, with a professional eye, coach Dinh Van Kien believed it would not be long before My Hanh would emerge as a successor, capable of shouldering the discipline’s future competitive responsibilities.
True to coach Dinh Van Kien’s assessment, after a short spell of making waves at youth competitions, My Hanh quickly overtook her seniors with an impressive medal haul. Aside from dozens of national championship golds and Southeast Asian titles, since 2018 she has secured a bronze medal at ASIAD 2018, two golds at the National Sports Games (2018, 2022), and four titles at four consecutive SEA Games (the 30th, 31st, 32nd, and 33rd editions). On the back of these achievements, My Hanh has been honored three times with Certificates of Merit from the Prime Minister and awarded the Third-Class Labor Order by the State President.
Returning to the assessments of other provinces and cities, in 2015—just one year later—Hue wrestling had evolved from a potential challenger into a formidable opponent, feared by all in the race for the overall team title at national championships. To date, over more than a decade, Hue wrestling has topped the overall standings seven times in the women’s freestyle event.
Miracles created
With her major and impressive contributions across various arenas, it is no exaggeration to say that My Hanh is a legend of Hue wrestling to date.
However, Hue wrestling is not limited to My Hanh, as her younger sister, My Trang, is also rapidly catching up with her sister’s achievements, with a bronze medal at the Asian Championships, three gold medals from three consecutive SEA Games (the 31st, 32nd, and 33rd), and one bronze medal and one gold medal at the National Sports Games—apart from more than a dozen titles at national championships and Southeast Asian competitions. On the back of these achievements, My Trang has been honored twice with Certificates of Merit from the Prime Minister and awarded the Third-Class Labor Order by the State President.
Following in My Trang’s footsteps is My Linh, another younger sister of My Hanh. While far younger in both age and competitive experience than her two sisters, My Linh has nonetheless amassed a notable record, with consecutive national and Southeast Asian championships, a silver medal at the 2025 Asian Junior Championships, and a gold medal at the 33rd SEA Games.
At the 33rd SEA Games, after all three won gold medals in women’s freestyle wrestling (the 62 kg, 57 kg, and 53 kg divisions), My Hanh, My Trang, and My Linh made history in Asian sports, becoming the first trio of sisters to train in the same discipline and capture SEA Games gold together.
My Hanh’s family has seven children. Besides My Hanh, My Trang, and My Linh, two other siblings—My Tien and Dang Quoc—are also members of the Hue wrestling team. Few feats are as extraordinary as a single family of seven children having five siblings training in the same discipline in one locality, including three sisters winning gold medals in the same event at the same SEA Games—an achievement unprecedented in world sports history.
From the above analysis, it can be affirmed that not only My Hanh, but all five sisters also deserve to stand as legends of Hue wrestling in particular and Hue sport in general.
The “Nurturing Young Seeds” initiative
Quang Dien District (formerly) was once a place where the Nguyen Lords selected physically strong and martial recruits through the local tradition of wrestling, notably at the Thu Le wrestling festival. Bestowed with royal recognition by the Nguyen Dynasty, the Thu Le wrestling festival became a traditional festival imbued with a strong martial spirit, held in early spring, from which many outstanding wrestlers have emerged over generations. The fact that five siblings of My Hanh’s family, along with dozens of other athletes, have worn and continue to wear the Hue wrestling team colors stands as clear evidence.
According to Mr. Hoang Dang Khoa, former member of the Quang Dien District Party Committee and former Head of the Department of Culture and Information (now Editor-in-Chief of Hue Newspaper and Radio–Television), historical upheavals once caused interruptions to the Thu Le wrestling festival and the local wrestling movement. In an effort to preserve the tradition, develop the movement, and contribute to the newly formed wrestling discipline, the district’s Department of Culture and Information proposed introducing wrestling into schools in 2006–2007. The initiative quickly gained consensus among relevant departments and authorities and was promptly put into practice.
“The initiative of the Department of Culture and Information can be likened to a single arrow hitting multiple targets: it created a healthy sporting environment for students, enhanced their physical fitness, and at the same time enabled the wrestling program to identify and nurture promising young talent. Since wrestling was introduced into schools, the city’s wrestling team has recruited more than 100 athletes from Quang Dien. At present, to my knowledge, 20 out of the 37 wrestlers who are training and competing—and who form the backbone of Hue wrestling—are from Quang Dien,” Mr. Hoang Dang Khoa added.
Beyond its contribution to high-performance sport, the initiative to introduce wrestling into schools has acted as a catalyst, not only reviving the wrestling movement in Quang Dien but also revitalizing the Thu Le and Sinh Village wrestling festivals, making them increasingly vibrant and engaging at the start of each spring.
There was a time when the Thu Le wrestling arena was largely contested by visiting wrestlers. Today, many sons and daughters of Quang Dien—men and women alike—eagerly await their turn to step onto the mat, showcasing their skills and competing with visitors from far and wide. As the Thu Le festival draws to a close, the lingering exhilaration fueled by cheers, drums, and gongs remains in the air, along with the sense of unfinished business and regret over a narrow, one-move defeat. Just days later, at the Sinh Village wrestling festival, Quang Dien wrestlers return to the mat for a chance to redeem themselves, while also adding greater excitement and competitive quality to a neighboring traditional wrestling festival.
At present, there is no need to further assess the effectiveness of Quang Dien’s initiative to introduce wrestling into schools, as it has already laid a solid foundation for the grassroots movement. That foundation has, in turn, contributed significantly to helping Hue wrestling go further and reach higher. And if one takes a closer look at wrestling and at Quang Dien’s approach, many other disciplines and localities can draw highly practical lessons, thereby developing additional solutions to help Hue sports attain new heights in the near future.