MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/. The Russian national team will compete under the country’s national flag and to the tune of the national anthem at the 2024 Vocotruyen World Championship that kicks off on Wednesday in Vietnam, a senior official with the Russian Oriental Martial Arts Federation told TASS.
The Vocotruyen World Championship is also known as the VO Vietnam World Championship. The event features a mixture of various Vietnamese traditional martial arts. It is organized by the World Federation of Vietnam Vocotruyen (WFVV). This year the championship is hosted by the Vietnamese city of Ho Chi Minh between July 31 and August 8.
"We have made an agreement with the [Russian] Embassy and the Consulate General’s Office, which will be participating in the opening ceremony of the world championship, since last year it went largely under the radar," President Emeritus of the Russian Oriental Martial Arts Federation Yury Organov said.
"The organizers [of the tournament] asked us to bring three Russian national flags that are intended for various events at the championship and to provide them with a recording of the [Russian] national anthem," he said. "Therefore there was no talk at all about us participating under a neutral flag. All participants [of the Russian team] have jerseys with our national symbols."
"Last year, the 35 countries participated in the championship bringing together a total of 192 athletes and we [Russia] finished 5th in the overall national teams’ competition," he continued. "Back then, we were represented by 13 athletes and this year we have lined up 16 athletes."
"However, not all of our athletes, namely those who could compete for gold medals, were able to set off to participate in the championship," Organov noted. "One of them fell ill while another one was voluntarily dismissed, but we hope to chalk up wins in numerous weight categories."
"Our main competitors at the championship are Vietnam, China and France," he added.
The Russian national team at the 2024 Vocotruyen World Championship in Vietnam is represented by Nadir Alibegov (50-55 kg weight category), Valery Strelchenko (55-60 kg weight category), Arsen Aliyev (60-65 kg), Dmitry Zverev (65-70 kg), David Avagyan (70-75 kg), Artyom Kozhokin (75-80 kg), Dmitry Turbin (80-85 kg), Sergey Reznikov (85-90 kg), Andrey Grosul (over-90 kg) in men’s competitions and by Daria Ivakina (44-48 kg weight category), Anastasia Kotova (70-75 kg) and Maryana Avdeyenko (over-75 kg weight category).