VietNamNet Bridge – The second International Vietnam Traditional Martial Arts Tournament closed last week in HCM City with hundreds of Vietnamese and international participants who were loath to part.

 

Demba Makalou, 46, was the only representative of the Republic of Mali.

The event closed with HCM City as the champion, earning nine gold and two silver medals, followed by the Army team with five gold medals and the Police team with three gold medals.

Among foreign teams, France ranked first with two gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

The tournament drew 220 artists of 22 teams from 11 countries. Each artist has their own story about their “fate” with Vietnamese traditional martial arts.

Aleksandr Bogatty, a Russian martial artist, remarked: “Owing to a small error in my ‘Tu linh dao nam’ exercise, I only won the silver medal. But I’m very happy to visit Vietnam. I will never forget my days in HCM City. All of us here are the winners.”

Another Russian artist named Nogatyy said: “This is my first trip to Vietnam to play, exchange and learn Vietnamese martial arts. I mainly covered expenses for the trip myself, though the Russian International Martial Arts Federation partly subsidized it as well.”

Their countrywoman Maya Smirnova, who has practiced Vietnamese traditional martial arts for six years, took two medals.

French martial artist Sarah Barbey won a gold medal and a bronze medal. Barbey, 40, has practiced Vietnamese martial arts for 20 years. She now holds the 18th level, the highest. Her husband, who is also a Vietnamese martial arts instructor, Olivier Barbey, opened a Vietnamese martial arts club in France. Their son is also a Vietnamese martial arts instructor. However, this is Barbey’s first visit to Vietnam.

“This has been a very interesting trip. Vietnamese martial art artists are all very young, but their skills are very high. I’ve learned martial arts and the ethics of martial arts practitioners from them,” Barbey observed.

Demba Makalou, 46, was the only representative of the Republic of Mali. He was born and grew up in the poor suburbs of the capital city, Bamako. During his childhood, he tended cows and in 1991, Makalou went to France to work as a builder.

He initially practiced martial arts as a hobby, but his passion grew. He won the French taekwondo championship 1993 and a gold medal at the Open European International Karate Championship 1994. He began practicing Vietnamese martial arts in 1993 with a Vietnamese-French instructor named Nguyen Van Trung. He decided to give up karate and taekwondo to concentrate on Vietnamese martial arts.

“Vietnamese martial arts look more beautiful and flexible than taekwondo and karate. Especially, Vietnamese martial arts use many kinds of weapons, which are close to life,” Makalou remarked.

He has presently reached the 17th level out of 18 total levels in Vietnamese martial arts. He has returned to his country to spread this martial art since 2005, free of charge. Every 4-6 months, he returns to France to work for a year to earn money to subsidize his free training courses in Mali. His club currently has over 50 members.

His three sons in France also practice Vietnamese martial arts.

“If I had more funding, I believe that Vietnamese martial arts would develop more dramatically in Mali,” he added.

(Vietnamnet)