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Wearing a pair of glasses with lenses for short sight, a slender Vietnamese girl in a blue uniform suddenly wrapped both legs around the head of a well-built young man in a scissor-like motion, taking him to the ground in the blink of an eye.
After watching the duo's eye-catching performance in late September in the Vietnamese capital city of Hanoi, over 200 Vietnamese students, both old and new members of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam's Vovinam (Vietnamese martial art) Club, reacted joyfully.
Established 10 years ago, the club in late September opened its second training course in 2016.
Le Hai Binh, deputy general secretary of the Vietnam Vovinam Federation, also spokesman of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for the past 10 years has organized the club and given martial art lectures to its members who are mostly students of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and the Foreign Trade University.
At the course's opening ceremony, Binh is wearing a blue uniform with a red belt (symbol of fire and blood), the second-highest ranking after the white belt (symbol of purity) in Vovinam's belt system.
"I started practicing martial arts at the age of 12," the 39-year-old man with a prominent forehead said, while breaking into a warm smile.
"Vovinam as well as other Vietnamese traditional martial arts represent Vietnamese characteristics; demonstrating a peace-loving yet unyielding spirit. During our country's international integration process, preserving Vietnamese cultural and traditional values is vital," Binh told Xinhua on Tuesday.
The club's members are as keen as mustard when practicing Vovinam's specialized techniques, including flying scissor kicks and back-fist reverse punches.
"I come here (the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam's campus) every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday to practice Vovinam, which has brought to me not only good health, but also strong will and confidence to overcome difficulties in life," Nguyen Duc Hung, a club member, told Xinhua, adding that one of the 10 key principles of the martial art is "be self-confident, self-controlled, modest and generous."
Vovinam or Viet Vo Dao, founded by Vietnamese grandmaster Nguyen Loc in 1938, has become a sport event of the Southeast Asian Games, and many other international tournaments in Vietnam as well as foreign countries, including the 2016 Asian Beach Games which concluded in early October in the Vietnamese city of Da Nang.
Vietnam may consider proposing to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to recognize Vovinam as well as other Vietnamese traditional martial arts as one of the world's intangible cultural heritages, Le Hai Binh said at the International Vovinam Meeting 2016 in Ho Chi Minh City early this year.
The World Vovinam Federation has member federations in Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceania.
Unlike judo, which focuses on elasticity, or taekwondo which leans towards torque, Vovinam combines both in the right proportions, a combination useful not only in combat but also in daily life, an official of the Vietnam Vovinam Federation said.
The official noted that Vovinam, along with other Vietnamese schools of martial arts such as Nhat Nam, Nam Hong Son, Binh Dinh and Tan Khanh Ba Tra, has helped internationalize martial art philosophies, such as a fighting spirit, tenacity, encouragement, fairness and tolerance.
Vovinam is now present in over 60 countries and territories in the world, attracting millions of Vietnamese and foreign practitioners. In Algeria alone, people are practicing the martial art in at least 30 out of 48 cities and provinces of the African country, according to the Vietnam Vovinam Federation.
Vovinam's unique characteristics, including eye-catching but practical defense and attack techniques, especially scissor kicks, have won the hearts and minds of international friends.
After arriving in Hanoi to work as a consultant for a Transport Ministry project, Per Mathiasen, a middle-aged, small-statured Danish man, who used to practice Muay Thai (kick boxing), was bewitched by Vovinam.
"I was very impressed by the fighting techniques of Thuy (Mathiasen's fitness instructor in Hanoi). He approached his opponents in a flash and took them down with powerful punches or scissor kicks," he recalled.
According to Mathiasen, Vovinam is most suitable for people of small stature like him because it teaches followers how to quickly get close to opponents and take advantage of their weak points to defeat them.
"Practicing Muay Thai, meanwhile, requires greater force and power. Vovinam is much more flexible. It is a wonderful combination of hardness and softness. Its escape, wrestling and levering techniques allow me to use an opponents' force and reaction to defeat them without much physical strength," he said.
Ng Shi Lei, who practiced karate for two years in Singapore before engaging in oriental studies in Hanoi, said she liked Vovinam's unique scissor kicks and its strong national spirit so much that she decided to expand her martial arts studies to include Vovinam.
"I know that many of my Vietnamese fellow students cycle 20 km to Vovinam training schools or clubs here. I admire their dedication. I also appreciate Vovinam's beauty," the Singaporean woman said.
Many non-Vietnamese found Vovinam so captivating that they not only practiced it for health and self-defense purposes, but also devoted their own money, time, and effort to research it and promote it in their home countries and elsewhere.
Patrick Levet is a case in point. He was born in France and grew up in Spain, and speaks 11 languages, including English, Vietnamese and Chinese. He has promoted and taught Vovinam in a dozen countries, including Singapore and Morocco.
His Vovinam students do not have to pay tuition fees. Levet started practicing boxing at the age of 10, and turned to Vovinam in 1979. In mid-2008, the Vietnam Vovinam Federation granted him a red belt. Now, Levet is still promoting Vovinam through martial art schools, interviews, books and video clips on YouTube.
Like Levet, Mathiasen wants to pass his burning passion for Vovinam on to other people. "In Denmark, I'll spend time practicing Vovinam, both with and without weapons. I'll teach my son so that he can master Vovinam some day," Mathiasen told Xinhua recently, before leaving Vietnam for his hometown.
(APD)
