Karate Championship which closed in Belgrade , Serbia , on Oct.
31.
Despite high expectations, national No 1 kata (performance) artist
Nguyen Hoang Ngan lost 0-5 to Yohana Sanchez of Venezuela in the
women's kata final.
After her 3-2 win over five-time
world champion Rika Usami of Japan in Oct. 28's semi-finals, Ngan was
widely expected to take the title since Usami was said to be the
strongest contender in the event.
However, all
predictions proved to be wrong when Sanchez, whose personal best was
third place at the world championship in 2004, defeated Ngan for her
first ever world title.
Ngan knew that silver was not her personal best, as she had previously grabbed many gold medals in high-ranked tournaments.
Usami and Croatian Mirna Senjug shared third place.
Earlier Ngan and her teammates Nguyen Thanh Hang and Do Thi Thu Ha
were ousted 0-5 by Japanese trio Inoue Kazuyo, Kimura Yoko and Sakai
Fumi in the team event
The teams from Italy and Spain took the bronze medals.
Vietnam 's only male competitor at the championship was Nguyen
Ngoc Thanh who was knocked out in the second round in the under-67kg
category.
The next event for the Vietnamese athletes will be the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou , China , next month.
Ngan and her teammates are shouldering a heavy burden to bring home a
gold medal for Vietnam . As a whole, the country expects to pocket at
least six golds in the continent's biggest sport festival./.
