Vietnam to compete in four sports at 2022 World Games

Vietnam will compete in four sports at the 2022 World Games which began on July 7 in Birmingham, Alabama, the US.

Asian beach handball champions Vietnam will compete in the 2022 World Games in the US

Athletes will compete in Muay Thai, wushu, billiards and women's beach handball. The 11th edition of the Games will run for ten days.

All of the athletes representing Vietnam won strong results at the 31st Southeast Asian Games and continental championship.

Handball is the only team event for Vietnam this time round. The national team won the Asian championship title in April in Thailand and placed No 13 at the world championship in Greece last month.

The Vietnamese side, who are targeting a top-five finish, left for Birmingham on July 8. Vietnam are in Group B with Norway, Germany and Mexico. Group A features Argentina, Australia, Denmark and the hosts.

The beach handball competition is being held from July 11 to 15.

World No 3 Tran Quyet Chien will compete in the carom three-cushion billiards event.

The SEA Games 31 champion will face 15 powerful rivals from 14 countries, including Dick Jaspers of the Netherlands, Eddy Mercks of Belgium, reigning champion Daniel Sanchez of Spain, Seo Chang-hoon of the Republic of Korea, and Koji Funaki of Japan.

Billiards will be held from July 13 to 17. Chien will face Javier Teran of Ecuador in his first match on July 14.

Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat is the only Vietnamese representative in Muay Thai after teammate Bui Yen Ly suffered an injury.

Nhat has dropped down from the 60kg weight class, where he won gold at the SEA Games, to 57kg, setting up an encounter with 2021 champion Phillip Delarmino of the Philippines who also won gold at the May's SEA Games in Vietnam.

The two will be joined by yet another SEA Games champion, Ahmad Bin Rakib of Malaysia, who is moving up from his favoured 54kg category.

The Muay Thai events are organised for July 15-17.

Three Vietnamese athletes will take part in wushu's taolu (performance) events. All of them are SEA Games champions.

Duong Thuy Vy is the most well-known 2013 world champion along with a range of other accolades.

Vy is also the only Vietnamese wushu artist to have won an Asian Games title in 2014.

She pocketed six golds at the regional SEA Games after nine years of competition, adding two in the 31st edition in May.

Vy will compete in the Jianshu, Qiangshu All-round Women event.

Her teammates Hoang Thi Phuong Giang will perform in the in Daoshu, Gunshu All-round Women, and Pham Quoc Khanh in Nanquan, Nangun All-round Men.

Wushu will be performed on July 12-13.

The Alabama Games features more than 3,600 athletes participating in more than 30 different sports.

The World Games is an international multi-sport event, meant for sports, disciplines or events within a sport that are not contested in the Olympic Games. The Games are usually held one year after the Olympics.

The 11th Games were scheduled for 2021 but were delayed when the Tokyo Games were moved from 2020 to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the last Games in Poland, Bui Yen Ly won the only gold medal for Vietnam in the women's 51kg category in the Muay Thai event./.

VNA