Vietnam wins two medals at World Junior Karate Championships

Vietnam brought home one silver and one bronze medal at the recent 2015 World Karate Junior, Cadet and U21 Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, the first silver won by the country’s martial artists at a world youth competition.

Vietnamese karate is pinning hopes on the young generation.

The four-day event drew the participation of over 1,440 fighters representing 91 countries and territories around the world.

Trang Cam Lanh secured Vietnam’s only silver medal after losing 0-2 to an Iranian opponent in the women’s U-21 Kumite 55kg final.

On her way to the decisive match, Lanh overcame competitors from Uzbekistan (7-4), Canada (3-1) and Italy (2-1) before beating an Egyptian competitor with a score of 4-2 in the semifinals.

Vietnam’s remaining bronze was secured by the women’s Kata team.

With a two-medal tally, Vietnam’s karate team ended up in 16th position among 91 participating delegations – a relatively good performance compared to the team’s modest goal of winning just one bronze medal, set prior to the event.

Japan dominated this year’s competition with eight gold, three silver and seven bronze medals, followed by Turkey (7/1/5) and Egypt (6/8/7) in second and third place respectively.

On the occasion of the world junior championships, officials of the World Karate Federation summoned a meeting asking for more drastic actions from its member countries to lobby for karate to be included in the competition programme of the 2020 Olympics scheduled in Japan.

(Source: nhandan.org.vn)