Vietnam walked away with two silver medals from the 20th World Senior Karate Championship which closed in Belgrade, Serbia, yesterday, Oct 31.

Despite high expectations, national No 1 kata (performance) artist Nguyen Hoang Ngan lost 0-5 to Yohana Sanchez of Venezuela in the women\'s kata final.

After her 3-2 win over five-time world champion Rika Usami of Japan in Thursday\'s semi-finals, Ngan was widely expected to take the title since Usami was said to be the strongest contender in the event.

However, all predictions proved to be wrong when Sanchez, whose personal best was third place at the world championship in 2004, defeated Ngan for her first ever world title.

Ngan knew that silver was not her personal best, as she had previously grabbed many gold medals in high-ranked tournaments.

Usami and Croatian Mirna Senjug shared third place.

Earlier Ngan and her teammates Nguyen Thanh Hang and Do Thi Thu Ha were ousted 0-5 by Japanese trio Inoue Kazuyo, Kimura Yoko and Sakai Fumi in the team event

The teams from Italy and Spain took the bronze medals.

Vietnam\'s only male competitor at the championship was Nguyen Ngoc Thanh who was knocked out in the second round in the under-67kg category.

The next event for the Vietnamese athletes will be the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, next month.

Ngan and her teammates are shouldering a heavy burden to bring home a gold medal for Vietnam. As a whole, the country expects to pocket at least six golds in the continent\'s biggest sport festival.