Phuong Quynh looked tiny against her giant Iranian opponent.
Besides the familiar sports both within and outside the Olympic system, ASIAD 19 also features sports that attract audience interest, including kurash - a popular folk wrestling style in Central Asia.
In this sport, wrestlers use towels to hold their opponents with the goal of throwing them off the ring. Kurash made its debut at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia in 2018 and at the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines in Southeast Asia.
In Indonesia in 2018, kurash contributed to the overall success of the Vietnamese sports delegation with a bronze medal won by female athlete Nguyen Thi Lan. At the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines, kurash brought home a shower of gold medals with 7 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze medals, far surpassing all other competitors.
At the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou (China), after the first two days of kurash competition, Vietnam faced immense pressure as they had yet to win any medals, dominated by Uzbekistan (4 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze). On the final day of competition, Vietnam had only two athletes left: Vo Thi Phuong Quynh (women's 87 kg) and Bui Minh Quan (men's 90 kg).
Phuong Quynh brought home the first and only bronze medal for Vietnam in kurash at the 19th Asian Games.
Entering the final quarterfinal match of the women's 87 kg category, Vo Thi Phuong Quynh performed very well, successively defeating her opponent with grappling moves to secure an early 10-0 victory against Jahan of Turkmenistan, while Bui Minh Quan was eliminated in the quarterfinals after losing to Atayev, also of Turkmenistan.
Unfortunately, in the semi-finals, Vo Thi Phuong Quynh was unable to advance, losing to Bahheri Zahra (Iran, a former world champion) with a score of 0-3, receiving the bronze medal, which was also the only medal for Vietnam in Kurash at ASIAD 19.
The female martial artist, a member of the Ba Ria - Vung Tau province judo and kurash team, said: "I'm a little disappointed because my initial goal was to reach the final. My opponent was much stronger than me. I tried my best, but this result is already a success."
I am very excited and happy to be selected to participate in the ASIAD for the first time. Previously, I practiced judo, only starting kurash in June. When I switched to this sport, I thought it would be similar to judo, not much different, so it was convenient for me."
Vo Thi Phuong Quynh won a bronze medal at the Asian Games after just over 3 months of practicing kurash.
According to Phuong Quynh, she entered the quarterfinals with high determination, feeling compelled to do something for Kurash (which has 6 athletes and 2 coaches participating in the ASIAD) as well as for the overall performance of the Vietnamese sports delegation.
"This is my first international kurash tournament. Since the team hadn't won any medals by the end, I was determined to win the most prestigious medal for Vietnamese kurash. Before the tournament, I thought I wanted to reach the final."
"But I'm already very happy to have made it this far. I feel very proud to have contributed another bronze medal to the country. In the future, I will definitely practice kurash more to achieve even more success for my country," Vo Thi Phuong Quynh said emotionally.
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