Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, January 30, 2024: Vu Duc Thinh was unanimously elected President of the Kickboxing Federation of Vietnam at its General Assembly held last Saturday, January 27, at the Lotte Hotel & Resorts in Hanoi.
A press release from the Asian Kickboxing Federation stated a total of 71 official delegates – nearly half of them representatives from different provinces and cities in Vietnam – participated in the General Assembly where they elected Vu Duc Thinh, who had served as Director of Kickboxing Vietnam.
Kickboxing was introduced to Vietnam in 2009 by Nasser Nassiri, President of the Asian Kickboxing Federation, and since then Kickboxing Vietnam has organised national championships, national club championships and national youth championships.
The sport has rapidly grown across 40 provinces and, after 15 years of development, has won acclaim internationally with Kickboxing Vietnam winning 15 gold medals at the last three Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in addition to eight medals – two gold, three silvers and three bronze – at the Asian Kickboxing Championships held in Bangkok, Thailand in 2022.
According to Nassiri, the inclusion of kickboxing in the SEA Games, in addition to the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) promoted by the Olympic Council of Asia, were key milestones in the development of kickboxing in Vietnam.
Vu confirmed that Vietnam would send athletes to the 6th AIMAG to be held in Bangkok in November, 2024.