Judo Vietnam completed the target on the day of its debut

Kodokan Goshin Jutsu (modern self-defense kicks) and Katame no Kata (quasi punching techniques of pressing, locking, tightening of the ground) are new at this SEA Games. In the previous games, kata content was brought into the competition several times, but with two exercises, Nage no Kata (knuckles about punching techniques), and Ju no Kata (knuckles about gentleness and flexibility). . All four of the above-mentioned punches, along with Kime no Kata (classical self-defense punches) are the official boxing content in tournaments of the International Judo Federation (IJF).

In the post Kodokan Goshin Jutsu, the pair Tran Quoc Cuong – Phan Minh Hanh reached 550.5 points, bringing the first gold medal for Vietnam. Winning the silver medal is another pair of Vietnamese athletes, Nguyen Cuong Thinh – Ha Minh Minh Duc (534.5 points). The remaining two places on the podium to receive medals belong to Laos (524 points) and Singapore (519 points) respectively.

Both the champion and runner-up in Kodokan Goshin Jutsu come from the Judo Club of Nguyen Du High School – a pioneer in school sports in Ho Chi Minh City. Practicing together since students, these martial artists understand each other very well. This is an extremely important factor when performing the right exercise. And this is also clearly shown in the test of Quoc Cuong – Minh Hanh. Both very well control the movement speed, attack, as well as attack distance. The attack is close but not touching, the attack is steady but comfortable, confident.

“Understanding each other’s movements and movement habits, we only tried to pay attention to every detail of the Kodokan Goshin Jutsu during our practice before the SEA Games from October 2021. Those efforts have helped us. I successfully completed today’s exam and outperformed my competitors,” Quoc Cuong said VnExpress.

Not only practicing together for a long time, Quoc Cuong – Minh Hanh also has a lot of experience in participating in international kata judo tournaments. At the 2019 Asian Kata Championship – the most recent continental tournament for the Vietnamese team to predict against Covid-19, this pair of boxers also won a gold medal.

In the exam Katame no Kata, the pair Nguyen Tuong Vy – Mai Thi Bich Tram won the gold medal with a score of 402.5, narrowly surpassing two Lao athletes (401.5 points). The bronze medal belongs to the representative of Thailand and the pair of Vietnamese athletes, Tran Le Phuong Nga – Nguyen Thuy Hai Chau.

The martial arts of judo are contested with two people, including Tori – who makes the decisive blow, which can be a direct attack or a counter attack; and Uke – who is attacked, or attacked first but is controlled and counterattacked. With the pair of athletes who won the gold medal, Tori Tuong Vy performed attacks with high accuracy, power and good rhythm with teammates. And Uke Bich Tram reacted to escape very strongly and decisively, making Tuong Vy’s attacks even more obvious. During the training period to prepare for the SEA Games, these two female boxers focused on practicing Tori’s power when striking, Uke’s escape posture, overcoming minor errors, and increasing physical strength. to ensure the power throughout the exercise.

Tuong Vy started practicing judo in 2000 at the Judo Club in District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, taught by the late Master Nguyen Van Cu and Master Nguyen Thuan Duc. After three years, this female athlete born in 1985 was sent to the city judo team for further training by the teachers, and achieved many achievements from city to national tournaments.

With a good technical background and also practiced many martial arts exercises to compete for promotion to the black belt, Tuong Vy was guided by Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tai – head coach of Vietnam Judo Kata team – to practice intensively Katame no Kata. According to Tuong Vy, training for fighting and boxing both requires concentration and careful calculation of the distribution of movement. However, when practicing boxing, athletes need to pay more attention to technical details and must have good coordination between the two. During more than half a year of intensive training before the SEA Games, the whole team was guided, commented, edited by coach Nguyen Thanh Tai to be more complete, so they all made obvious progress.

Bich Tram has been involved in judo since 2009 at the Military Club and then began to compete in many big and small tournaments in the country. Since 2014, she quit fighting competition and switched to practicing boxing, specializing in Katame no Kata.

“I like to practice boxing more and more because it suits my physical condition. I am very honored and proud to be able to attend the SEA Games for the first time, and especially to win a gold medal for Vietnam. This medal is also a word. My thanks go to Master Nguyen Thanh Tai for his dedication to developing the kata judo movement in Vietnam,” said Bich Tram.

Coach Nguyen Thanh Tai used to study and practice boxing at Kodokan, Japan. In 2017, he opened the first kata class in the country, with all 5 boxing exercises in the IJF competition system. The members of this class are the core of the Vietnamese kata team participating in the following international tournaments.

The Judo subject of the 31st SEA Games has 13 gold medal content. After capturing the full set of two kata gold medals, Vietnam can still improve its performance in 10 individual fighting events from May 19 to May 21, and a mixed men’s team fight event. female on May 22. In addition to athlete Le Anh Tai, who won the 30th SEA Games gold medal in the lower (-) 90kg category, the Vietnam judo team also has many boxers who are expected to bring good results in the -48kg, -52kg, -55kg categories. …

Lan Chi