Vietnam Vovinam team leads at world championship

The Vietnamese Vovinam team led the entire delegation at the 2025 World Vovinam Championship held in Indonesia with 24 gold medals, nearly 3 times more than the second-placed team, Algeria.

Vovinam Vietnam celebrates first place overall with Algeria team in second place - Photo: GIANG LE

On the afternoon of November 7, the 8th World Vovinam Championship 2025 ended after 4 days of exciting competition in Bali (Indonesia).

This year’s tournament has the participation of more than 600 athletes from 26 countries and territories with developed Vovinam movements in Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceania. Athletes compete in 26 martial arts events and 19 combat weight classes.

This sporting event is not only a place for the world's best Vovinam martial artists to compete, but also carries a historic mission: to realize the Olympic dream for traditional Vietnamese martial arts.

As the birthplace of martial arts, the Vietnamese Vovinam team easily won first place overall with 24 gold medals.

Meanwhile, the race for second place was extremely fierce between Algeria and Cambodia. As a result, Algeria ranked second with 9 gold medals. Cambodia ranked third with 7 gold medals.

Previously, at the 7th World Vovinam Championship 2023 in Ho Chi Minh City, the Vietnamese Vovinam team won the overall title with 18 gold medals. The two teams behind were Algeria (9 gold medals) and Cambodia (6 gold medals).

Assessing the quality of the tournament, martial arts master Florin Macovei - Permanent Vice President of the World Vovinam Federation (WVVF) - said: "Two martial arts powerhouses like Japan and South Korea have significantly improved the quality of their athletes. We believe that in the future the quality and quantity of athletes will increase further as countries are investing in developing Vovinam."

The 9th World Vovinam Championship 2027 is scheduled to take place in Algeria. This will be the second time the African country has hosted the tournament after the first time in 2015.

The President of the Southeast Asian Vovinam Federation is Cambodian.

On the occasion of the 8th World Vovinam Championship 2025, the Southeast Asian Vovinam Federation (SEAVF) Executive Committee Meeting also took place on the afternoon of November 7 with the participation of 5 member countries: Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar and the Philippines.

The delegates unanimously elected Mr. Ou Ratana - President of the Cambodian Vovinam Federation - as President of SEAVF. Mr. Nyoman Yamadhiputra (Indonesia) was elected as Permanent Vice President and General Secretary of SEAVF.

The SEAVF Vice Presidents include Mr. Nguyen Binh Dinh (Vietnam), Mr. Jop Malonzo (Philippines), Mr. U Ye Mint (Myanmar) and Mr. Santipharp Intaraphartn (Thailand).

The conference also agreed to choose Cambodia as the host country for the 2026 Asian Vovinam Championship.

NGUYEN KHOI

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/doi-tuyen-vovinam-viet-nam-dan-dau-tai-giai-vo-dich-the-gioi-20251107202026776.htm