Gia Lai fighter claims taekwondo bronze as Vietnam expands medal haul at 33rd SEA Games

Gia Lai’s Nguyễn Quốc Nguyện defeated Spain’s David Martinez 4-1 in South Korea on October 12 to win his second PBA Tour three-cushion carom billiards title, earning 100 million won, equivalent to nearly VND 2 billion (approximately US$78,000).

Vietnam topped the world championship medal table with 30 golds and one silver at the 2026 World and Youth Traditional Vietnamese Martial Arts Championships in Italy, while France led the youth standings.

Gia Lai’s traditional martial arts team returned home on October 8 with 10 gold medals from the 2026 world and youth championships in Cervia, Italy.

A pickleball tournament in Gia Lai raised nearly VND 25 million (approximately US$960) to provide gifts for disadvantaged pupils at Le Hong Phong Primary School in Ia Ko commune.

Gia Lai’s young triathlon team is preparing for the 2026 National Sports Games after winning medals at national competitions, using a swimming-and-running discipline to develop athletes while keeping equipment requirements manageable.

Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Loan will face South Korea’s Lee Yumin in her opening women’s under-49kg taekwondo bout at the 2026 Asian Games on October 2, needing two victories to reach the semifinals and secure a medal.

Ten athletes from Vietnam’s Gia Lai province have departed with the national delegation for the 2026 World and Youth Traditional Vietnamese Martial Arts Championships in Cervia, Italy, from September 30 to October 5.

The U10 football team from Sao Viet Primary, Secondary and High School in Gia Lai province have won the Da Nang regional round of the Lotteria Challenge Cup 2026, securing a place in the national final in Ho Chi Minh City on October 17.

More than 350 athletes from inside and outside Gia Lai province will compete in the inaugural Pờ Yầu Summit Conquest Cross-country Race 2026 on September 27, challenging the winding mountain route to Pờ Yầu village in Lơ Pang commune.

Young talents from Vietnam’s Gia Lai province are making their mark internationally, with a young chess player earning a FIDE title and a high school physics student winning a silver medal at the 2026 European Physics Olympiad.

Nearly 3,000 athletes competed in 21 sports at the first Gia Lai Provincial Sports Festival, which concluded on Sept. 15 after nearly three months of competition across the province.

Nguyễn Thị Loan, a taekwondo athlete from Gia Lai, is the province’s only competitor to qualify for the 20th Asian Games (ASIAD 20) in Japan, capping a decade-long journey from a poor rural community to Vietnam’s national team.

(GLO) – On the morning of September 13, around 8,000 athletes gathered at Nguyen Tat Thanh Square (Quy Nhon Ward, Gia Lai Province) to compete in the VnExpress Marathon Quy Nhon 2026.

Held on September 13, the VnExpress Marathon Quy Nhon 2026, co-organized by VnExpress Newspaper and the Gia Lai Provincial People’s Committee, has concluded. More than 8,000 athletes joined together along the coastal route, striving to achieve their goals and creating unforgettable memories.

More than 370 players took part in the 2026 Expanded Chess Tournament to Welcome the New School Year in Quy Nhon, underscoring the growing popularity of chess and the role of grassroots competitions in developing young talent.

Nearly 1,000 athletes from 35 teams across 11 provinces and cities competed in the 2026 Gia Lai Provincial Sports Dance and Entertainment Championship, the 12th Dream Dance Cup Open, underscoring the growing appeal of sports dance in the province.

Dong Quoc Anh, a 12-year-old table tennis player from Gia Lai Province, has emerged as a promising young talent after reaching the top 16 in the 12-13 age group at the 2026 National Youth, Teen, and Children’s Table Tennis Championship.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai Football Club (HAGL) will travel to Thailand for a pre-season training camp from Aug. 11-22, where the Vietnamese side will play five friendly matches, including one against Kanchanaburi, coached by Park Hang-seo.

Gia Lai will field two teams at the Toyota Cup 2026 National U9 Football Championship in Quang Ngai province, where more than 300 young players from 28 teams across Vietnam are set to compete.

After more than half a century devoted to traditional martial arts, International Grandmaster Lê Ngọc Quang has played a prominent role in teaching, promoting and developing the discipline in Vietnam and overseas.

As the successor to the late Grandmaster Nguyễn Đức Mộc and the second-generation head of the Sơn Long Quyền Thuật school, Swiss Grandmaster Oliver Barbey has spent decades promoting Vietnamese traditional martial arts internationally.

Gia Lai dominated both forms and sparring at the 2026 National Traditional Martial Arts Clubs Championship, exceeding key performance targets and strengthening its prospects ahead of the National Sports Festival in November.

Authorities in Hội Phú Ward, Gia Lai Province, are coordinating with runner Nguyễn Văn Long to organize a 102-day endurance challenge in which he aims to set a Guinness World Record by running 100 kilometers a day.

Gia Lai’s youth Xiangqi programme continues to show encouraging progress after the province’s young players claimed 101 medals at the 2026 Central and Central Highlands Age Group Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) Open Championship, reinforcing efforts to build a sustainable pipeline of future talent.