Hall Junior Wins Bronze at International Championship

West Hartford resident Vinh Dang, a junior at Hall High School, has returned from a 9-day trip to Spain with several medals competing as part of the United States’ junior team at the ITF World Championships.

Vinh and 6 other junior team members (Noel Rivera, Nicholas Santana, Adrian Santana, Marc Akda, Bryan Eng, Brandon Yan) from different states competed in the competition held Oct. 23 - 27.

Some 1,042 competitors, including 419 juniors ages 14 - 17, took part in the event.

“In an intense five days competition of sparring, tae kwon do forms, pre-arranged sparring, and special techniques, Vinh earned a bronze medal in the special techniques competition for the USA Junior team,” Vinh’s mother Hoang Dang wrote in an e-mail.

Overall, the USA junior team members also earned a gold medal in pre-arranged sparring, a silver medal in pattern and a bronze medal in sparring.

Vinh is a first-degree black belt who trains out of the White Tiger TaeKwon-Do dojo in Manchester.

“Vinh would like to send out a special thank you to all of his instructors at the White Tiger School of TaeKwon-Do for preparing and providing him with the necessary training to compete at this high level,” Hoang Dang wrote. “Also a special thanks to all of Vinh's teachers and faculty members at Hall High School for their support.