Hoang Vinh Giang introduces new sports to Vietnam

Forty one years ago, at the age of 15, Hoang Vinh Giang decided to go to Hanoi Fine Art school. But not for long, he then moved to Viet-Duc senior secondary school. He studied while playing sports. For years, Giang kept the national record for high jump.

He was well-known when he was still a teen-age. Having completed senior secondary school, he studied at the sport training school in Nhon for three years. In 1967, he returned to Hanoi sports and culture school and passed the entrance exam for Kiev Physical Health and Sports College of Ukraine. Having studied for five years there, he returned to work as a track and field Coach. He was the first person to jump the record height of 1.96 metres. He returned to Kiev for post graduate studies in 1978 and started thinking of importing new sports games into Vietnam.

Mr Hoang Vinh Giang said that in 1989, he was assigned to be head of Vietnam Sports Delegation to SEA Games 15, he spent much time watching Silat and Sepak Taraw games and asked the Malaysian Pencak silat federation president the rules of the sport. He said that he imported Wushu to Vietnam from Russia instead of from China as many people had thought. He said that he had a student in Moscow who presented him a Taolu video tape in late 1989. Mr Giang found it interesting so he decided to let Vietnamese sportmen practise it. He had to persuade Mr Duong Nghiep Chi, who was then the head of Vietnam Sport Delegation, to send Wushu athletes to attend ASIAD 1990. It was no surprise that at the first international competition, our athletes lost through lack of practise.

He said that people had called him ‘Mr Wushu’ since 1993 when Mai Thanh Ba and Thuy Hien won the first world medals.

Now, he feels proud that Hanoi was able to restore the traditional martial arts, boxing, judo and also import a series of sports including yatch, wushu, pencak silat.

By LAN PHUONG
(Young People newspaper)

 

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