MOSCOW, August 6. /TASS/. The Russian national team finished the 2024 Vocotruyen World Championship in Vietnam second in the overall medal standings.
Russian fighters won a total of 12 medals across various events - four gold, three silver and five bronze medals. First place went to one of the two Vietnamese teams represented at the tournament and third place went to the French team.
Bringing home the gold for Russia were Andrey Grosul (men’s over-90 kilograms weight category), Artyom Kozhokin (men’s under-82 kg) Dmitry Zverev (men’s under-72 kg) and Anastasiya Kotova (women’s under-65 kg).
Silvers went to Sergey Reznikov (men’s under-90 kg), Mariana Avdeyenko (women’s over-65 kg) and Valery Strelchenko (men’s under-64 kg). Winning bronze were Russians David Avagyan (men’s under-77 kg), Arsen Aliyev (men’s under-68 kg), Nadir Alibegov (men’s under-60 kg), Daria Ivakina (women’s under-48 kg) and Yekaterina Zhuleva in the women’s martial arts aesthetic event.
Just like last year, the Russian national team, which fielded 17 fighters, participated in the Vocotruyen World Championship under the country’s national flag and to the tune of the national anthem.
Head of the Russian delegation to the championship in Vietnam and President Emeritus of the Russian Oriental Martial Arts Federation Yury Organov told TASS that "all fighters [from Russia] were motivated and they fought for their country, particularly with the Olympic Games and other sports competitions in the background, those currently underway, where the Russian flag is prohibited."
"They were competing under their national flag," he continued. "Every individual event winner asked for the flag to be brought out and wrapped themselves in it to celebrate."
"In other words, patriotism was in the air," he continued. "Those who didn’t win, took it hard and wept."
Organov also said that the atmosphere at the tournament "was friendly and positive."
"We had participating teams from France, Germany, Italy, the Ivory Coast, and they were all friendly, there was no hostility," he added.
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 was hosted by the Vietnamese city of Ho Chi Minh, kicking off on July 31.