Highland boy conquers Southeast Asian Karate gold medal

Dinh Hoang Tan on the podium receiving the gold medal at the 2025 Southeast Asian Karate Championship held in Brunei.-Photo: NVCC

From passion...

Born and raised in the mountainous commune of Minh Hoa, Dinh Hoang Tan was soon accustomed to hard work but had a special passion for martial arts. At the age of 13, while his peers were still playing, Tan taught himself basic martial arts moves from TV and martial arts books. Seeing his son's passion for martial arts, his father decided to take him to a local Karate class to practice.

Dinh Hoang Tan said: “My martial arts practice ground back then was just a cement floor, without a mat, so every practice session, my whole body was covered with dust and scratches. There were days when it was pouring rain and cold, my clothes were covered in mud, but I still went to class regularly, never thinking of giving up.”

Tan's first martial arts teacher was master Dinh Thanh Duan, who also instilled in him the spirit, discipline, and respect for his opponents, laying a solid foundation for his future fighting style. Every day, after school, Tan often practiced more martial arts, kicks, punches, and trained his physical strength by jogging.

Thanks to his strong will and passion, within just 2 years, Dinh Hoang Tan has affirmed his outstanding talent by achieving a black belt while his peers had to spend 3-4 years. After participating in provincial youth tournaments and achieving some achievements, Tan was discovered and selected by coach of the Da Nang Karate team Nguyen Thanh Hai (Da Nang Sports and Physical Training Center) to join the Da Nang City Karate team.

Entering the professional training environment, Tan became more determined. Every day, he practiced martial arts for about 6 hours. At the end of the training session, he asked his coach and seniors to teach him more techniques and tactics.

Thanks to that, his physical condition, skills and competitive spirit have improved significantly. From 2019 to now, Tan has participated in about 4 national professional tournaments each year, winning 6 gold medals, 6 silver medals, 3 bronze medals in competitive events in many different age groups and weight classes.

The 2025 Southeast Asian Karate Championship, held in Brunei from June 14-19, 2025, gathered 424 athletes from 9 countries in the region, competing in Kata (performance) and Kumite (combat), divided into 3 age groups: Youth, Youth and Championship. At this tournament, Vietnamese athletes excellently won 28 gold medals, 31 silver medals, 17 bronze medals, ranking first overall.

Conquer your dreams

With efforts in training and competition, in early 2025, joy came to Dinh Hoang Tan when he was called up to the national Karate team to practice and compete in international tournaments.

The 2025 Southeast Asian Karate Championship held in Brunei was also the first time he went abroad. Tan competed in the men's individual and men's team events in the 67kg weight class for the U21 age group. In the group stage and quarter-finals, he defeated opponents from Brunei and Singapore with absolute victories of 8-0.

Highland boy conquers Southeast Asian Karate gold medal

Uramawashigeri kick helped Tan win 3 points against Thai athlete in the semi-final match - Photo: NVCC

Entering the semi-finals, Tan met an opponent from Thailand. This athlete is nearly 1.9m tall, is the reigning champion of last year's tournament, possesses fast, versatile, and flexible hand and foot attacks.

With great determination, in the 20th second of the match (Karate match lasted 3 minutes), Dinh Hoang Tan suddenly launched an Uramawashigeri kick (kick to the head) to win 3 points. Being behind, the reigning champion of the tournament continuously counterattacked and shortened the score to 2-3. To preserve the score, Tan had effective counterattacks, attacks and dodges.

In the final, Tan met athlete Luu Vo Anh Duy from Binh Duong (old), who was also his teammate on the national team. In this match, the coach did not direct the tactics but asked the athlete to play with all his might.

With martial spirit, 2 Vietnamese athletes gave the audience beautiful and attractive attacks and counterattacks.

In the end, Tan won against his teammate with a score of 3-1 to win the gold medal. After that, Tan continued to win a silver medal in the team competition.

Sharing after winning the first international gold medal, Dinh Hoang Tan emotionally shared: “I would like to send my deep thanks to the coaching staff, family, and fans who have always accompanied and encouraged me throughout my training and competition. This victory is the result of my perseverance, constant efforts, and passion for Karate since I was a child. I will never “rest on my laurels” but will try to train hard to win a place at the Seagame at the end of this year as well as conquer continental and world tournaments.”

Dinh Xuan Phong, Dinh Hoang Tan's father, shared: "He has been diligent and hard-working in Karate since he was young. The other day, when we heard that he won a gold medal at a major tournament, my whole family was so happy that we cried." This victory not only affirms Tan's talent and competitive spirit, but also contributes to raising the position of Vietnamese Karate in the regional arena, creating more motivation and inspiration for young athletes.

“Dinh Hoang Tan is one of the outstanding athletes, with a strong will and great competitive spirit. Tan always shows high concentration in training and competition. His techniques are increasingly perfected, especially his ability to handle situations flexibly and his speed of attack is very good. The victory at the 2025 Southeast Asian Karate Championship is a worthy result of his tireless efforts over the past many years. I believe Tan will go further and reap more achievements in the future,” commented Coach of the Da Nang Karate team Nguyen Thanh Hai.

Spring King

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/chang-trai-vung-cao-chinh-phuc-huy-chuong-vang-karate-dong-nam-a-195635.htm