Story of 'Black Bao' wrestler

The boy loves his hometown wrestling festival

Born in 1997, the youngest son in a family of only 2 siblings in hamlet 4, Nam Anh commune (Nam Dan), since he was a primary school student, Nguyen Kim Bao was interested in wrestling through the times he went to watch.King Mai Temple Festival.

This is a famous traditional sport of Nam Dan district, often included in the competition at this festival in early January every year. The image of shirtless wrestlers, wearing loincloths, with strong, firm muscles fighting each other on the wrestling ring, surrounded by thousands of people cheering and cheering, was deeply ingrained in the mind of the village school boy at that time. And Bao always dreamed of one day becoming one of the strong wrestlers competing atwrestlingin Nam Dan homeland

Passionately “learning” the moves and punches from each time he went to watch wrestling festivals, and actively training his physical strength, by early 2011, before he was 14 years old, Nguyen Kim Bao had his dream fulfilled when he was selected to join the wrestling team of Nam Anh commune to compete at the Mai King Temple Festival. Although he did not achieve any results because he had to compete with older, more experienced wrestlers, with his solid physique and high determination in competition, Nguyen Kim Bao caught the “green eye” of Mr. Dang Xuan Nghia - wrestling coach of Nghe An Sports Training and Coaching Center (now Nghe An Sports Training and Competition Center).

After some tests, in March 2011, Bao was selected to join the center, officially becoming a youth athlete in the wrestling department.

With dark skin, Nguyen Kim Bao was nicknamed “Black Bao” right from the moment he entered the center. Bao said that compared to other athletes of the same age at that time, he was selected 2-3 years later, so he faced more difficulties, from the completely new training and living environment, and especially the very demanding and harsh professional athlete training process. With this direct combat sport, beginners will have to go through continuous injuries, their ears will often hurt, and their head, hands, and ear cartilage will collide. However, with his passion for sports and his eagerness to learn, Nguyen Kim Bao has made efforts and gradually improved through each day of training and gradually passed the rigorous screening rounds at the youth level.

In June 2011, Nguyen Kim Bao participated in his first tournament, the National Freestyle and Classical Wrestling Championship for Youth, held in Thanh Hoa province. Although he did not win a medal, through this tournament, Bao gained the confidence to conquer the following tournaments. A year later, at the XIV National Youth and Ethnic Wrestling Championship held in Bac Ninh province, Nguyen Kim Bao won a Gold Medal in the youth category - a good start for a series of impressive achievements later.

"Monument" of ethnic wrestling village

In the early years of his career, Nguyen Kim Bao competed in both traditional wrestling and freestyle wrestling. From 2012 to 2014, in addition to the Gold Medals won in traditional wrestling, Bao won Gold Medals in freestyle wrestling in 2013 and 2014.

By 2015, Nguyen Kim Bao had only focused on competing in the national wrestling event and from 2016 to now, almost every year this athlete from Nam Dan has won Gold Medals in the two most important tournaments of the national wrestling event: the National National Wrestling Championship and the National Talented Wrestling Championship. Among them, according to Bao, the Gold Medal that he felt most impressed with at9th National Sports CongressIn 2022, when he overcame a very strong opponent in the final match, athlete Pham Nhu Kien of the army team.

Considered one of the "monuments" in the traditional wrestling village, Nguyen Kim Bao has only been called up to the national youth team once in 2014 and has never competed internationally. Simply put, most of this athlete's career has been devoted to traditional wrestling, while this event does not have international tournaments. Currently, in the wrestling - jujitsu department of Nghe An Sports Training and Competition Center, only Nguyen Kim Bao, along with athletes Nguyen Ba Luc, Nguyen Van Son... focus exclusively on traditional wrestling, the rest compete in both freestyle wrestling and jujitsu.

During more than 13 years of wrestling, Nguyen Kim Bao has suffered many injuries, big and small. The most serious of which was a torn ligament in his right leg in 2020, which prevented him from participating in any tournaments that year. In 2024, Nguyen Kim Bao was tormented by a back injury but still managed to win a Gold Medal at the Hanoi National Wrestling Tournament for the Phung Hung Cup.

In 2020, Nguyen Kim Bao married a girl from Hung Nguyen. Currently, the couple is managing an English Center in Nam Anh commune.

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I am always proud to be born and raised in my hometown Nam Dan, which has a tradition of national wrestling, where I have been inspired to believe in wrestling; proud to have brought home Gold Medals for Nghe An high-performance sports. The time left for me to be attached to my sports career is not much, so in addition to practicing hard to continue to conquer new tournaments, I will try to pass on my experience to the younger generation so that they can continue the success of previous generations.

Athlete Nguyen Kim Bao

Commenting on his student, coach Dang Xuan Nghia - Head of the wrestling - jujitsu department of Nghe An Sports Training and Competition Center said: "Although he is one of the oldest athletes in the department, over the years, Nguyen Kim Bao has always shown composure, diligence, and willingness to learn. After getting married, his house is 20km from the center and he travels back and forth every day, but Bao has never been late for practice. During practice hours, Bao always shows enthusiasm and actively teaches younger athletes, becoming a shining example for them in the department."

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Although he is nearing the end of his career, Nguyen Kim Bao is still a key investment athlete, striving to achieve high results at the National Wrestling Championship held at home next year and further defending the Gold Medal at the 10th National Sports Festival in 2026.

Coach Dang Xuan Nghia - Head of wrestling - jujitsu department of Nghe An Sports Training and Competition Center