The third Asian Indoor Games closed on Sunday with hosts Vietnam earning a total 42 gold medals, a close second to China’s 48 golds.

However, the Vietnamese athletes outperformed all expectations.

In the Kurash competition, Nguyen Thai Hoc beat Uktam Boboev from Uzbekistan –home of the sport – in the 66kg category finals to win the gold medal

As for Pencak Silat on the final day of the event, Vietnam had 7 martial artists competing in the finals and 6 of them won gold medals. Vietnamese shuttlecock competitors won 5 golds.

The closing ceremony of the event was a bit more sentimental than usual as Asian Indoor Games organizers have decided that they will not hold the event in the future. Instead, some of the games will be included in the Asian Martial Arts Games, which are held every four years.

Kazakhstan came in third place at AIG III with 21 golds while Thailand, Iran and South Korea were in fourth, fifth and sixth places with 19, 17 and 16 gold medals respectively.

Source: SGGP