Karate Sisters

EARLY TALENT

Ngoc Tien and Kim Tien were born in 2009, residing in Hon Dat district ( Kien Giang ). In August 2020, the two sisters were selected to join the Kien Giang province karate talent team when they had just finished primary school. After nearly 2 years in the team, Ngoc Tien and Kim Tien won their first national medals in their careers; in which, Ngoc Tien won a bronze medal at the Southern Youth Karate Championship, Kim Tien won a silver medal at the National Youth Karate Championship.

In 2023, Kim Tien won a bronze medal at the national karate youth championship and a silver medal at the national karate club championship. Ngoc Tien competed successfully at the southern karate youth championship with a gold medal and won a silver medal at the national karate club championship.

Twin sisters Kim Tien (right) and Ngoc Tien practice at the National Sports Training Center in Ho Chi Minh City.

Promoting their talents, in 2024, Kim Tien and Ngoc Tien both competed impressively in tournaments. Kim Tien successfully won the first international gold medal of Kien Giang karate at the Southeast Asian karate championship - Thailand. In domestic tournaments, this female athlete won a gold medal at the national karate club championship and a silver medal at the national youth karate championship. Meanwhile, Ngoc Tien won bronze medals at both the national youth karate championship and the national karate club championship...

With their achievements, Kim Tien is now a member of the national youth karate team, while Ngoc Tien is a youth player of the province. Both sisters are currently training at the National Sports Training Center in Ho Chi Minh City.

Coach of the national team and youth karate team of Kien Giang Sports Training and Competition Center Ho Thanh Lac assessed that Ngoc Tien and Kim Tien are always serious, self-disciplined, and eager to learn in training and show courage and determination to win the highest victory in competition.

“Ngoc Tien and Kim Tien can fight well with both hands and feet, so they are very proactive in both attack and defense to draw their opponents into their playing style... Kim Tien has shown remarkable progress by winning the gold medal at the 2024 Southeast Asian Karate Championship. In the future, I think the two athletes will go even further,” said Coach Ho Thanh Lac.

“RED THREAD” TO SUCCESS

An interesting thing is that before being selected for the gifted program, the twins Ngoc Tien and Kim Tien had never practiced karate or any other martial arts. After a few months in the pre-gift class, both of them revealed their innate martial arts talent, combined with their physical advantages, body shape, etc. to pass the tests and assessments and officially appear in the provincial karate gifted program. Even more interesting, after only nearly 2 years of concentration, the two sisters consecutively reaped the first high-performance sports medals in their careers, something that not many athletes can do.

Athlete Huynh Ngoc Tien (right) in a match at the 2024 national karate club championship in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province.

Kim Tien said: “When I was selected for karate, I was still confused. With the encouragement and dedicated instruction of the teachers and my family, I tried my best to practice and compete well so as not to let everyone down.”

According to Kim Tien, in order to achieve the above achievements, in addition to practicing hard and strictly following the coach's training plan, she also researched and learned on the internet more good attack and defense moves of famous athletes at home and abroad to apply to herself. In particular, athletes must practice courage, confidence and calmness in all situations to be able to read and predict the opponent's moves best.

Up to now, the collection of medals that the two sisters Ngoc Tien and Kim Tien have achieved includes achievements in provincial, national and international competitions. However, when talking about outstanding achievements in 2024, Kim Tien is quite modest.

Kim Tien said: “I am very happy and pleased with all the medals I won last year, especially the gold medal at the Southeast Asian Youth Championship in Thailand. That will be a motivation and a very important stepping stone to help me grow up and get closer to my goals in higher tournaments.”

Athlete Ngoc Tien always has determination, effort, and a desire to learn in training and competing to achieve the best results. “Every time we come home from training or competing, our bodies are tired and sore, but we often encourage each other to try harder. Every day we have to try harder to overcome ourselves. Not only that, I also take Kim Tien as my goal and role model to strive to follow. I am determined and strive to achieve good results like my sister so that one day soon we can both shine on the international stage, bringing glory to high-performance sports in our province,” Ngoc Tien said.

According to Director of Kien Giang Sports Training and Competition Center Nguyen Quoc Vinh, Kim Tien and Ngoc Tien are two young athletes, well-trained and showing their talent early with many impressive achievements. The two athletes, along with several other athletes, are the pride of Kien Giang's high-performance sports. The province has high expectations for them, and they will reap even more success in upcoming tournaments, especially at the National Sports Festival in 2026.

Article and photos: NGUYEN MINH

Source: https://www.baokiengiang.vn/van-hoa-the-thao/chi-em-karate-24158.html