DongNai (VNA) - Vietnamese boxers are competing with professional boxers fromthe Republic of Korea at the Vina Boxing Cup 2018, held in the southernprovince of Dong Nai on July 7.
The friendly event features five matches with five Vietnamese fighters, namelyVo Thi Kim Anh, Bui Công Danh Loi, Cao Van Nguyen, Nguyen Van Duong and NguyenHong Thang. The RoK boxers are Lee Seong Ho, Suh Moon Chui, Park Hye Soo, LeeNam Jun and Moon Seong Hyoek.
The event is organised thanks to a cooperation agreement among theNational Sports Administration, the Vietnam Boxing Federation and the SouthKorea Boxing Committee (KBC) in April.
After this tournament, KBC aims to train Vietnamese boxers professionally forinternational tournaments.
Former World Boxing Association (WBA) Champion Hong Soo Hwang of the RoK attendedthe event. Hwang wished Vietnamese boxing would soon shine in elite tournamentssuch as Asian Games or Olympics.
Earlier, boxers of Vietnam and the RoK also competed in the Vietnam Nam- KoreaProfessional Boxing Tournament in 2015 in HCM City.
According to Tran Minh Tien, Chairman of the Vietnam Boxing Federation, the eventis a test towards for organising future professional boxing fights in Vietnam.
“At present, the RoK has more than 40 world champions. The country would liketo cooperate for a long term with Vietnam as it sees that Vietnam has potentialto develop boxing professionally. The Vina Boxing Cup is a semi-professionalevent but it is the first event to test to hold a professional event in thefuture with the active support of the RoK,” said Tien.
In the past two years, Vietnamese boxing has made big strides.
Nguyen Thi Tam made history as the first Vietnamese female boxer to win anAsian title last year, while male boxer Tran Van Thao wasawarded Boxer of the Year for 2017 by the World Boxing CouncilAsia in April in Bangkok after he won the WBCAsia Super Flyweight title last November.-VNA