Turkish boy with World Championship gold medal

(Baonghean)Having won the continental and world championship in Pencak Silat for many years, few people know that the “golden boy” of Vietnamese Silat was once a small, shy Tho ethnic boy from the mountainous district of Quy Hop. That athlete is Truong Van Mao, the 2012 Pencak Silat World Champion in the 85kg weight class.

Meeting Truong Van Mao at his family home in Nghia Xuan commune, Quy Hop district during his rare days off after returning from the National Cup Championship with his teammates, we were warmly welcomed by the gentle smile of the 26-year-old man with the muscular body of a true "martial arts family".

But when Mao shared the photos from more than 10 years ago, we were quite surprised because few people could recognize the small, dark boy in the photo as the 1m83 tall boy like now, if not for that gentle smile and eyes. "Before, Mao was very small, he studied until 8th grade but was only as tall as his friends' ears, his skin was dark because he had to herd cows on the hill all day. Mao was a good-natured person, many times when his friends teased him, he only dared to laugh it off but did not dare to fight back, many times his brother and sister had to stand up for him", Mr. Truong Van Son, Mao's father, recalled.

Born into a family of 4 siblings, being the third child, but because of his small stature, Mao was always given priority in the family's heavy labor work, however, Mao never let his brother or sister help. Mao once told his brother and sister: "Just let me work to practice so I can have health". Perhaps that is why even when focusing on the resource class at the Department of Sports and Physical Training (old), Truong Van Mao always had the awareness to practice continuously.

Martial artist Nguyen Cong Manh, former coach of the Nghe An Pencak Silat team in the 2000s, who directly recruited Truong Van Mao to the Department's team in 2003, said: "At that time, among the students, there was a small, gentle, quiet Tho ethnic boy, but he practiced very hard. There was a quality in Mao that we recognized, which was his quick reaction and attack, this is one of the first criteria for competitive competition, physical strength can be trained and improved over time..." And indeed, the shyest Tho ethnic boy in the class soon became a "golden athlete" of Nghe An sports in particular and Pencak Silat Vietnam in general.



Truong Van Mao (left) strikes in the final match at the 2011 Southeast Asian Championship.

Under the guidance of two talented coaches, Tran Trong Cuong and Trinh Thi Mui, Truong Van Mao regularly competes in the 80-85kg weight class. In domestic tournaments, Truong Van Mao has won gold medals for many consecutive years and is one of the key athletes of the Nghe An Pencak Silat team. In the national team, Truong Van Mao is one of the golden names of Vietnamese sports when he won the Asian championship in 2009 and 2011; most recently, at the 2012 World Pencak Silat Championship held in Thailand, he excellently won the gold medal in the 85kg weight class, contributing to the Vietnamese team's top position in the tournament's achievements.

After more than 10 years of practicing Pencak Silat, Truong Van Mao still clearly remembers the image of him standing behind his father on the first day of class. Mao said: “In the beginning, I was still unfamiliar because I was an ethnic minority from the mountains, and I was small so I didn’t dare to say anything. Later, thanks to the teachers’ encouragement and daily practice, I gradually grew as tall as my friends and started to dare to… challenge the martial artists in the class. Until now, I still haven’t forgotten the injury of a dislocated toe in a fight with a friend.” Gradually, through more professional training, Mao learned the value of protecting the body in martial arts competitions, “hands, feet, shoulders, back… are all extremely valuable things for martial artists like us, because just one injury can ruin our entire training process and career” – Mao confided.

Currently, Truong Van Mao is in his 5th year at the University of Sports 1 in Bac Ninh and is still practicing and gaining more experience to become a Pencak Silat coach in the future. Mao also shared that his wish in the future is to return to his hometown, Nghe An Sports Training Center, to participate in coaching and, most of all, to share his experiences to train the next "golden" generation for Pencak Silat Nghe An.

Thai Anh