Vietnamese sprint queen Vu Thi Huong successfully defended her SEA Games 100m title yesterday after finishing in a time of 11.34sec at the Main Stadium.

First to finish: Vu Thi Huong takes the SEA Games 100m title for the third time after her win yeterday in Vientiane. The Vietnamese athlete is also expected to win golds in the 200m and 4×100m later.

She got a good lead ahead of the other seven runners who despite their best efforts, failed to narrow the gap.

The Thai Nguyen Province-born athlete who pocketed one gold and set a record at the third Asian Indoor Games’ 60m race last month in Viet Nam will defend her 200m title in the next few days.

She is also part of the 4×100m relay team.

Yesterday was the first day of the athletics events which also saw other medals for Vietnamese competitors.

Lo Thi Thanh Hang and Tran Thi Tham grabbed a silver and a bronze in the women’s javelin while Nguyen Thi Bac pocketed a bronze in the women’s 400m hurdles.

Another golden hope for Viet Nam, Vu Van Huyen, and his teammate Nguyen Van Hue city are occupying the top spots in the men’s decathlon after two events of the 100m and long jump.

Wushu events also kicked off yesterday at Vientiane’s International Trade Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Vietnamese martial artists immediately proved that it is a gold mine for the country, winning the men’s dulian (barehand performance).

Trio Tran Xuan Hiep, Tran Duc Trong and Nguyen Huy Thanh scored 9.50 points to win their title, leaving behind rivals from Singapore (9.40) and Thailand (9.20).

Later Vu Tra My and Vu Thuy Linh added a silver medal in the women’s dulian (performance with weapon) after losing by 0.01 point to a duo from Singapore. My and Linh who were paired with each other for the first time in this event scored 9.45 points.

“It is not a result that we expected although we tried our best,” said Linh.

“We have trained a lot and combined very well with each other in training but I am still suffering with an injury,” she said.

Wushu will continue until Thursday. The Vietnamese hope to pocket at least six gold medals, three from taolu (performance) and three from sanshou (combat) events.

Shuttlecock

The Asian Indoor Games champion Trinh Thi Nga added a gold to her collection after winning the women’s singles shuttlecock title yesterday.

Nga defeated three rivals from Thailand, Cambodia and Laos in a round-robin format to take the title.

In swimming, Olympian Nguyen Huu Viet bagged a silver medal in the men’s 200m breaststroke in the 25th Southeast Asian Games yesterday.

The 20-year-old swimmer swam a time of 2:15.25 to finish second behind Nuttapong Ketin of Thailand, who won the gold with a time of 2:13.42, a new SEA Games record.

Nuttapong and Viet both surpassed the old record of 2:15.62 set by Elvio Chia at the 19th SEA Games in Brunei 10 years ago.

Indonesian Indra Guawan finished third to take the bronze.

It’s the second time Viet has broken Game’s record following his performance in the 100m breaststroke at the National Sport Complex’s aquatic centre on Friday.

Earlier, Vietnamese Pham Thi Hue bagged a bronze medal in the women’s 200m breaststroke as she finished behind Singapore swimmers Yi Ting Siow, who won the gold in a time of 2:30.35, and Cheryl Lim.

Yi also broke her own record (2:31.90) from the 2001 SEA Games in Malaysia.

After a glorious day for the weightlifters on Saturday with two unexpected golds (which helped them to exceed their target), the Vietnamese added a bronze in the men’s 85kg through Tran Van Hoa.

There was also success for the Vietnamese table tennis players. Mai Hoang My Trang and Mai Xuan Hang won a bronze medal in the women’s doubles and the men’s team is ensured of at least a silver after winning a place in the final.

Pair Doan Kien Quoc and Dinh Quang Linh caused a shock at National University Gymnasium, trouncing title favourites Singapore in the semi-final yesterday.

In cycling, Vietnamese cyclist Mai Cong Hieu won a bronze in the men’s 40km individual trial time event with a time of 1:02.19.

After five days, Viet Nam stand second in the medal tally with 25 gold, 23 silver and 27 bronze medals. Thailand, the SEA Games champion, topped the ranking, with 29 golds, 39 silvers and 40 bronzes. Singapore remain in third with 23 golds, 12 silvers and 24 bronzes.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News