Vietnam dominate Southeast Asian karate championship

The team bagged 20 gold, 19 silver and 25 bronze medals at the 2019 Southeast Asia Karate Championship held on April 12-14 in Bangkok, Thailand.

The Vietnamese women dominated all six kata (performance) categories, with individual gold medals won by Nguyen Ngoc Bich (U14-15), Nguyen Ngoc Tram (U16-18), Nguyen Thi Phuong (over 18) and Le Thi Khanh Ly (over 21); as also the junior and senior (above 18) team events.

Vietnamese athletes also performed well in the kumite (combat) competitions by winning 12 gold medals in various male, female and team categories.

Thailand came in second at the championship with 48 medals, including 13 gold and eight silver, followed by Malaysia with 37 medals including nine gold.

In the 2018 tournament held in Vietnam, the hosts also topped the ranking table after winning 89 medals, including 29 gold and 24 silver.