Hue's young wrestlers are worthy successors  to their seniors if properly invested

The latest medals

While many other sports, including once-strong ones, are encountering many difficulties, Thua Thien Hue's wrestling, especially women's wrestling, is entering the "harvesting season": regularly collecting medals through tournaments. Most recently, in mid-July, at the first Beach Wrestling Clubs Championship held in Vietnam, the Thua Thien Hue delegation ranked second in women's wrestling.

The tournament has 5 sets of medals for men including 60kg, 70kg, 80kg, 90kg, and over 90kg; 4 sets of medals for women including 50kg and 60kg; 70kg and over 70kg. In the women's event, the Thua Thien Hue delegation earned 1 gold by athlete Nguyen Thi My Hanh, 1 silver by athlete Nguyen Thi My Trang, and 3 bronzes by athletes Nguyen Thi My Linh, Doan Thi Kim Oanh, and Hoang Ngoc Trinh.

At the last count, the Thua Thien Hue delegation won 8 medals (1 gold, 1 silver, and 6 bronzes), just behind the Thanh Hoa delegation. In the men's event, the Thua Thien Hue delegation also scooped 3 more bronzes from athletes Pham Van Co, Nguyen Van Quang, and Pham Phuoc Rin.

 

Earlier, at the 2023 National Championship of Youth Freestyle and Classic Wrestling held in early June, the Thua Thien Hue delegation won 3 golds, 2 silvers, and 3 bronzes. The women's freestyle wrestling ranked 2nd in the entire delegation. Nguyen Hong Anh won a gold in the 40kg category; Nguyen Huynh Xuan Nhi a gold in 61kg, and Ngo Le Thao Nguyen a gold in 73kg. Two silvers belonged to Tran Thi Ngoc Tram in the 33kg category, and Pham Thi An Binh in the 50kg category. Meanwhile, Phan Ngo Thien won a bronze in the 60kg category, Nguyen Su Bin a bronze in the 48kg category, and Nguyen Thi Hong Linh a bronze in the 54kg category.

This year's tournament gathers nearly 400 athletes nationwide. The athletes compete in classic and freestyle wrestling in 2 age groups (from 14 to 15 years old and from 16 to 17 years old), with 42 weight categories.

Bamboo is not yet old, and bamboo shoots have grown

 The list of female athletes with medals at the Beach Wrestling Clubs Championship named three sisters Nguyen Thi My Hanh (gold), Nguyen Thi My Trang (silver), and Nguyen Thi My Linh (bronze). This is a special case and is the pride of sports in general and Thua Thien Hue wrestling in particular.

The story goes that, even though just over 10 years old when she heard of Hue wrestling’s recruitment, My Hanh boldly signed up and was promptly admitted to the Hue wrestling team. Following in the footsteps of her sister, at age 10, My Trang was also selected for the Hue wrestling team. Then, following the example of two elder sisters, My Linh (born in 2003) was also selected for the Hue wrestling team at age 11.

In recent years, these three sisters have had medals whenever they were in the wrestling ring. Two sisters, Nguyen Thi My Hanh, and Nguyen Thi My Trang, are the reigning SEA Games champions in two consecutive SEA Games. The younger sister Nguyen Thi My Linh also shows that she is not too inferior with a desirable medal record at her age. This famous wrestling family in Quang Dien also has a younger sister Nguyen Thi My Tien (born in 2005), who is a very promising athlete.

The achievements of Thua Thien Hue wrestling at the 2023 National Championship of Youth Freestyle and Classic Wrestling for wrestlers of a very young age, under 17, show a future bright. The women's wrestling event that ranked second in the entire delegation with a long list of young faces stepping on the podium to receive medals are a worthy succession to the seniors if properly invested.

It is also worthy of mention that, aside from female wrestling, which confirmed its position, male wrestling has also begun to strive to keep pace with female one.

Three bronzes by wrestlers Pham Van Co, Nguyen Van Quang, and Pham Phuoc Rin at the first Beach Wrestling Clubs Championship held in Vietnam are seen as a good signal.

Recently, in reply to our question about the new hopes of  Thua Thien Hue wrestling, Mr. Dinh Van Kien, Head of the provincial wrestling division, referred to the name Pham Phuoc Rin. According to him, together with Nguyen Thi My Tien, this is an athlete who is expected to be a worthy successor to the achievements of seniors My Hanh and My Trang.

The Resolution on the high-achievement sports development of Thua Thien Hue Province in the 2021-2025 period, with the orientation to 2030 by the 6th Provincial People's Council, the 11th session identifies the task to make a big breakthrough in high-achievement sports, with a focus on key investment in developing sports with potential and strength of the province. The Resolution of the Provincial People's Council also identifies the selection of wrestling, along with athletics, chess, taekwondo, karate, swimming - diving as key sports of group 1 to focus on investment in the 2021-2025 period.

Reiterating the story of 3 siblings becoming the treasure of the wrestling team in order to realize that one of the stages contributing decisively to the quality of high-achievement sports training and coaching is the work of source generation and athlete selection of Thua Thien Hue wrestling.

This is the process of seeking and screening to select athletes able to gain high sports achievements. This process must be regularly carried out from the initial selection stage and during training. That is also the outcome the Thua Thien Hue wrestling team has been gaining, laying a solid foundation for high-achievement sports

Story and photos: Ba Tri