The faces won golds for Hue wrestling team
"Shocking - unique - extraordinary"
The first was athlete Le Thi Ai Hoa. On the journey of conquering the 53kg category in women's freestyle wrestling, starting from the qualifying round until before the final, Ai Hoa showed her real strength by continuously overcoming the opponent with a gap of 10 - 0. However, entering the final, Head of Hue Wrestling Division Dinh Van Kien was rather anxious about his student’s confronting Bui Thi Dao, the athlete from Ha Nam.
The reason was that in the national championship in August in Nam Dinh, after the final, Ai Hoa only won a silver when losing to Bui Thi Dao herself. It was definitely not easy for Ai Hoa to continue to confront the athlete who has just beaten her.
As expected, starting, Bui Thi Dao showed the strength of the defending national champion when quickly leading by 1 point. But immediately, Ai Hoa quickly calmed down, took blows to score 2 points and then, with the strategy of hitting and rolling consecutively with 5 times (2 points per time). Ai Hoa did not let the opponent have the chance to manage, thereby snatching an overwhelming victory over Bui Thi Dao with a score of 12 - 1 to win the 53kg-category championship.
“Returning after the failure at the national championship, I analyzed the strengths and weaknesses, thereby logically adjusting the tactics to help Ai Hoa to effectively promote the forte on the ring. However, although confident of my student’s victory, I was astonished that Ai Hoa overcame Bui Thi Dao with such a gap,” Mr Dinh Van Kien.
After Ai Hoa's sweet and convincing "revenge", Hue female wrestlers continued to make strong impressions when Nguyen Thi My Hanh, Nguyen Thi My Trang and Nguyen Thi My Linh won golds, respectively in all categories of 62kg, 57kg and 55kg, as well as an absolute victory with a 10-point difference from the qualifying match to the women's freestyle final.
Also with the above performances, the 3 sisters My Hanh, My Trang and My Linh created a rare miracle of wrestling in particular and the sports of Vietnam and the world in general when the 3 sisters were crowned champions in different weight categories in the same tournament.
There were still many cases where two athletes were brothers or sisters, and each won a gold such as Nguyen Van Hung - Nguyen Trong Cuong (Taekwondo); Tu Hoang Thong - Tu Hoang Thai (chess), Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc - Nguyen Thanh Ngung (athletics); Venus Williams - Serena Jameka Williams (tennis) ..., or the trio of Van Sy (football): Van Sy Hung, Van Sy Son and Van Sy Thuy together with Song Lam Nghe An football team won the V. League 2001 Championship.
But that was the story of 20 years ago, like the three brothers of the Van Sy family that played in a team and won an achievement. And the story of the three sisters My Hanh who won golds in different weight categories in the same tournament was quite another and rare.
With the above performances, it is no exaggeration to say that the 4 athletes of Hue wrestling team Ai Hoa, My Hanh, My Trang, My Linh created "shock - uniqueness - extraordinariness" at the National Cup of Classical and Freestyle Wrestling this year. This also led Chairman of Vietnam Wrestling Federation Ly Duy Thanh to come to Quang Dien (My Hanh sisters’ hometown) on December 8 to give the gifts, encourage and make a clip to add the material to the traditional room of Vietnamese wrestling.
Obstacles lie ahead
With 1 gold of athlete Pham Van Co, 4 golds of Hoa, Hanh, Trang and Linh together with 7 other bronzes, Hue wrestling team ranked first in the entire team in women’s freestyle and third in the entire team in men’s freestyle at the National Cup of Classical and Freestyle Wrestling 2020. After the moments of triumph, "captain" of Hue wrestling team Dinh Van Kien affirmed that his students have to continue to strive for self-improvement.
If My Hanh is known as "the undefeated" in Southeast Asia in the 62kg category with the brilliant performances in ASIAD and SEA Games, it is not too difficult for My Trang to win the championship in the domestic tournaments with a series of the convincing victories. And in the course of nature, the ticket to the SEA Games 31 in 2021 in Vietnam is within the reach of the two sisters Hanh - Trang.
But according to "captain" Dinh Van Kien, apart from keeping in good trim at the national championship 2021 next June - the tournament to decide on the athletes joining in the SEA Games 31, both Hanh and Trang also have to face a harsh reality: some big-weight athletes will endeavor to lose weight in order to compete in 62kg and 57kg - 2 weight categories of Hanh and Trang, 2 weight categories in the competition content at SEA Games.
“In terms of capacity, the chances for Hanh and Trang to participate in the region’s biggest sports festival are quite high, but the battle for the slots to the SEA Games is always fierce both inside and outside the ring. Therefore, it is difficult to say anything in advance. Now it is vital not to be complacent, but on the contrary, to redouble efforts,” said Head of Hue Wrestling Division Dinh Van Kien.
Story and photo: HAN DANG