Vietnamese kitesurfers head to Thailand for KTA contest

Vietnam’s kitesurfing team, the KINN team will head off by bus on Friday to compete at Pranburi, Thailand for round four of the Kiteboard Tour Asia (KTA) championships.
The three team members, “Kin” (Nguyen Ngoc Kim), “My” (Nguyen Duc Long), “Ven” (Nguyen Ngoc Ven), will travel via Phnom Penh and Siem Reap to arrive at the February 16-20 Thai event the day before registrations.
“For our two youngest members, Ven and My, who are both 18, it will be their first experience out of Vietnam. For Kin, his first experience was at last November’s KTA China,” team manager, Yoann Coutherut, who is also going on the trip, said.
“KINN team objectives for this season are to participate with all three riders at each of the remaining KTA rounds: Thailand, the Philippines, and Korea,” Coutherut said.
Kin who is 31 is currently first in the Asia KTA championship in Twin Tip (TT) Race Course and third in the Asia KTA championship in freestyle.
“We are hoping to retain the first place in TT Race course at the end of the championships and a place on the podium in freestyle would be very nice,” the team manager said.
“It is difficult to judge how the sport is developing in Vietnam as it is limited to Vietnamese guys that work on the beach. There is very little interest from Vietnamese girls so far.”
The KINN Pro Rider team also promotes the sport to young Vietnamese and helps the ones with potential to compete.
“Kitesurfing is developing well in Asia, and we are even starting to see the Chinese getting interested in this sport as well,” Coutherut said.
The last KTA round was held in Vietnam in Mui Ne, Jan. 12-16. Rounds one and two were in Turkey and China respectively.