Over the years, Nguyen Thi Tam is the world's leading amateur boxing female boxing in Flyweight, the hope of Vietnamese sports towards international arenas such as ASIAD or Olympic. Tam has twice the Asian championship (2017, 2022), won the ASIAD bronze medal in 2018 and the gold medal in the World Championship in 2023.
Coming to ASIAD 19 in Hangzhou, China, Nguyen Thi Tam also received a lot of expectations from domestic fans. Below may be the most formidable rivals of Nguyen Thi Tam at ASIAD 19.
Tsukimi Namiki – Japan
Achievements: Tokyo Olympic Games, Bronze World Championship 2018, HCB Boxing Asian Championship 2022
Only 1m53 tall, Tsukimi Namiki is very small. Her arms are also short compared to many rivals of the same weight class. However, Namiki is still one of the top continents thanks to the big footwork and weight of each punch.
Namiki's tactics almost all revolve around footwork. Japanese punches always cleverly selected the corner to close the opponent, as fast as lightning approached, blowed, and then turned back. With the fast pace of the game, Namiki attacked quite proactively but did not move around waiting for the opportunity to counter.
Anyway, compared to Nguyen Thi Tam, Tsukimi Namiki's height and arms are still a big drawback. The mind won Namiki in the Asian Elite Championships 2022 final after 3 tense rounds.
Pang Chol -Mi – North Korea
Achievements: Gold medal in the 2018 World Championship, HCB ASIAD 18, gold medal in the Asian Championship 2019
North Korean puncher Pang Chol-Mi is one of the familiar names in the regional arena. 1m68 tall with long arms, Pang Chol-Mi uses a jab that is very good in maintaining the distance with the opponent. Pang also has a sharp Fight IQ, she often lowered her hands or revealed her body to “bait” the opponent, then launched a Counter punch.
In international arenas, Pang Chol-Mi used to meet Nguyen Thi Tam at least 3 times. Once at the Asian Championship 2017, Nguyen Thi Tam surprised the Korean fist. Then at ASIAD 18, Pang Chol-Mi Thang Nguyen Thi Tam in the semi-final. In the Asian Championship 2019, Nguyen Thi Tam also lost to Pang Chol-Mi in the final.
Chang Yuan – China
Achievements: HCV ASIAD 18, Young Olympic gold medal in 2014
1m65 tall, Chang Yuan is a difficult Southpaw puncher with good footwork, sensitive reflexes and good physical strength. Chang Yuan also actively attacked, but more than lightning the chance of Counter to release a series of punches, accepted the opponent and changed the attack continuously. Chang Yuan's front hand was quite flexible between Jab and punched and hooked.
Psychological war may be the drawback of Chang Yuan – the Chinese female boxer who commented that she “easily caught up with emotions” and many times, need to adjust psychologically before important matches.
Chang Yuan once met Nguyen Thi Tam in the 2020 Boxing Olympic qualifying round in Asia and Oceania, Chang Yuan won by the point.
Nikhat Zareeen – India
Achievements: HCV World Championships in 2022 (Flyweight) and 2023 (Light Flyweight), gold medal in the Chung Vuong Chung Championship 2022, Bronze Medal of the Asian Championship 2019 Championship 2019
With a huge achievement table of twice the world championship, Nikhat Zareeen is a heavy candidate for the female boxing gold medal. Zareeen's common way of fighting is to keep the distance, focusing on counter -counter opportunities.
However, that does not mean that Nikhat Zareeen lacks the attack capacity – even in the final of the World Championship in March this year with Nguyen Thi Tam, Zareeen also shows that she has the ability to change the blow. The backs of Zareeen's fist or a series of combos are very dangerous, especially when they are very cleverly paving the way by the first Jab.
As a result, Nguyen Thi Tam still has the advantage of the opponent of India, like a series of Hooks to eat in the second half – the third half, but to say that “catching cards” is not necessarily by Nikhat Zareeen. Finally, Tam lost the point, received the gold medal.
Earlier, at the Asian Championship 2019 took place in Thailand, Nikhat Zareeen lost 0-5 after 3 rounds against Nguyen Thi Tam in the semi-final of Flyweight (51kg).