30. Januar 2006  
Hanoi / Vietnam  
Artistic Gymnastics

Ngan Thuong named Hanoi’s Sportswoman of the Year

Ngan Thuong
- Sports women of the Year in Vietnam

Gymnastic superwoman Do Thi Ngan Thuong won all votes from Hanoi’s sport journalists and was named 'Hanoi’s Sportswoman of the year 2005, following a selection organised by Hanoi Department of Sports and Physical Training and 'Sports Today Newspaper'. Wushu masters Nguyen Thi My Duc and Dam Thanh Xuan came second and third in the vote where 54 selected sports journalists working in Hanoi participated.


The Vietnamese artistic gymnastics team gained good results at the 23rd SEA Games 2005 with five gold medals, of which two belonged to Ngan Thuong in women’s all-round and balance beam. The two gold medals were the results of 4,000 hardworking days of the little ‘princess.’
Ngan Thuong, born in 1989 in Hanoi,
started to her career by chance. At the age of six, Ngan Thuong always suffered from illnesses. Her mother took her to the Quan Ngua sport centre in the hope that physical exercise would help her improve the strength. In an effort to select athletes for the Hanoi gymnastic team, Chinese expert Zhang discovered Ngan Thuong. The artist then said that at that point she did not know what artistic gymnastic was.
However, she and her teammates learnt with a great passion because coach Zhang knew how to attract them to the sport. However, Ngan Thuong and her teammates experienced days of hard training and suffered from injuries, let alone Tet (Lunar New Year) welcoming away from home. Despite great efforts, a gymnastic artist’s career is often short.
Answering a question on whether she would become a gymnastic coach or not, Ngan Thuong said that she and her friends had to train in the sport when from the age of five but at the age of 17 they retreat.
Most artists, according to Ngan Thuong, have retired before the age of 18. She said that if she had to choose again, she would decide to choose artistic gymnastics but she wanted to have a different career. She likes drawing but wishes to enroll in the National Economics University.
Source: vietnamnet, Nhan Dan