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| Taekwondo athletes on the mat |
From the story of “contributing troops”
Thua Thien Hue Team entered the tournament with 1 team leader, 8 coaches, and 62 athletes, including the following units: Hue Sports High School, Hue University, Phu Xuan University, and the education and training sector.
The team was organized in the form of "contributing troops" - that is, the gathering of coaches and athletes in the province, who are doing training at clubs: Phu Dong, New Dawn, Phu Xuan, Phu Duong, Bao Long, Phong Dien, Huong Thuy, and Hoa Chau. 49 out of 62 athletes gained achievements with 9 gold medals, ranking 3rd in junior high schools and 6th out of 68 teams participating in the tournament, a very proud achievement.
Phu Xuan University (Phu Xuan Taekwondo Club) had 4 participating students who contributed 1 gold and 2 bronzes. The only gold went to athlete Huynh Thien, NNT class - K18 in the men's 54kg kumite. Two bronzes belonged to Tran Thi Kieu Trinh, IT class - K18 (women’s 57kg kumite), and Doan Thi Thu Tram, Business Management class - K20 (women’s individual standard right). Hue University had 2 medals, including 1 gold by Tran Phung Yen Nhu ( women’s 62kg individual kumite).
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| Promising faces for Hue Taekwondo |
Huong Thuy is the most successful district-level unit when it snatched 2 golds by Luong Quang Nghia (men’s 45kg individual kumite) and La Quoc Cuong (men’s 53kg individual kumite), who are students of Phu Bai Junior High School.
Huong Thuy students also scooped 1 silver by Ngo Anh Phong (Thuy Phu Junior High School) and 4 bronzes by Le Van Huu (Thuy Chau Primary School No.1), Nguyen Bao Chau (Thuy Phu Junior High School) and Nguyen Ngoc Khanh Thi (2 bronzes, Thuy Phuong Junior High School).
Luu Nhat Anh Thu (Cao Thang Senior High School) claimed up to 2 golds in the women's team standard right and women’s 68kg individual kumite. The senior high schools under the department also had 2 golds, including the women’s team standard event by Nguyen Thi Yen (Phan Dang Luu Senior High School) and the individual kumite by Tran Nguyen Nhat Tan (Phong Dien Senior High School).
Although he only won a silver, the contribution of Nguyen Van Phung, a student of Huong Thuy Senior High School, was noteworthy when Phung and his teammates excellently beat too-strong opponents.
Mr. Nguyen Van Phap, Head Coach of Thua Thien Hue Taekwondo team said, “The success of the first national student tournament held in Hue is a great opportunity to incorporate Thua Thien Hue Taekwondo movement step by step into schools. This also provides an opening for Thua Thien Hue to revive and develop the Taekwondo movement. Therefore, it enables Thua Thien Hue to seek great talent and prospects to supplement the Taekwondo team that will compete at larger national Taekwondo tournaments in the immediate and long term."
To the birth of clubs
The story of "contributing troops" of clubs to a national tournament raises many thoughts about the Taekwondo development direction in the socialization form and the search and selection of athletes for this sport. Thua Thien Hue Province currently has dozens of Taekwondo clubs with hundreds of practitioners in regular training, most of whom are school and university students. Taekwondo clubs in the province with fully-equipped gyms regularly offer enrollment classes for all ages and gifted classes.
In recent years, the Department of Culture and Sports and the Department of Education and Training have given attention to and facilitated the formation and development of martial arts clubs in general and Taekwondo in particular at schools. In fact, this martial art has many conditions to develop in schools due to the simple requirement for facilities investment. Taekwondo clubs in schools attract students’ involvement. They help students to exercise physically, relax, have healthy and useful activities, limit their free time, and stay away from social evils. Concurrently, they create diversity in the school sports movement.
Like other sports, 2-3 times every year, the provincial Taekwondo division members return to the localities to help the coaches here supplement and update the training methods. This is also an opportunity to "hunt" talent in addition to the selections at the annual tournaments.
Further, Taekwondo clubs in concert with the functional sectors regularly organize the periodic belt-elevation and level-transfer exams. This is seen as the best way to develop the movement, helping schools have more driving force behind the club activity maintenance. Simultaneously, it enables the provincial martial arts division to select potential athletes to supplement the gifted team.
Taekwondo is a strong sport in the province and has been selected by the province as a key sport of group 1 to focus on investment in the 2021 - 2025 period. However, Thua Thien Hue Taekwondo has recently shown signs of slowing down in achievements. Hopefully, with the achievements at the 1st National Student Taekwondo Championship in 2023, Thua Thien Hue Taekwondo will have additional promising faces.