Vovinam athletes are competing (Photo: VNA)

Establishing the Arab Vovinam Federation will encourage participation in international competitions by its members and help spread Vovinam to other African and Arab countries.

Hoang Vinh Giang, former Vice President of the Asia Olympic Council and former President of Vietnam’s Traditional Martial Art Federation, said: “Vietnamese martial arts are practiced overseas by the Vietnamese and foreigners.”

 Vovinam was invented by grandmaster Nguyen Loc 80 years ago. Vovinam’s principles include “to live for oneself, to help others live and to live for others”. Practiced without weapons, its aim is to train physically strong people with sound minds, discipline, and moral strength. Vovinam students study human behavior, fellowship, and unity. 

After more than eight decades of development, Vovinam has to date attracted over 4 million leaners in more than 70 countries and territories. The martial art, based on the principle of combining between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’, is practiced with and without weapons. It is not only about the training of the body but also of the mind. Introduced to Algeria in the 1970s, Vovinam has become popular and is now being practised by over 20,000 people across the African country.