LookAtVietnam – Vu Thi Huong stepped onto the podium for the second time in three days after she triumphed at the SEA Games’ women’s 200m yesterday, December 16.

Vu Thi Huong. (Photo: VNE)

Two days ago the 23-year-old runner from Thai Nguyen Province pocketed the 100m title.

Her teammate Le Ngoc Phuong also took part in the 200m event and finished third in 24.03sec. It was Phuong’s second medal here. Her first was in the 100m where she shared the silver medal with Thai Laphassaporn Tawoncharoen.

The Vietnamese duo will take part in the women’s 4×100m event today.

The gold medal in athletics was one of many medals that Vietnamese pocketed yesterday.

The finswimming team was again in the spotlight, setting two Games’ records on their way to three gold medals.

Phan Luu Cam Thanh broke his own record set in 2003 in Viet Nam in the men’s 50m surface. After six years, he quickened his time from 17.35 to 16.18 yesterday and won gold.

Later, Tran Bao Thu grabbed gold and a record of 3:12.60 in the women’s face. Thu was twice as fast as veteran Nguyen Thi Hang, the former record holder whose time was 7:12.60 four years ago.

Her teammate Nguyen Nhat Tu also won in the men’s 100m bifin event.

Earlier in the morning, wushu artist Pham Quoc Khanh topped the men’s nanquan (southern fist) with an average points score of 9.70 after two tests. Khanh’s gold is the second for the wushu’s taolu (performance) team who failed to win in any of the women’s categories in previous days.

His teammate, Nguyen Thanh Tung who is taking part in the SEA Games for the first time finished second in the men’s tanjiquan.

Taolu is one of Viet Nam’s strong points at sporting festivals. The team set a target of winning at least three golds in Laos but the inexperienced team narrowly failed to fulfil their goal.

However, the wushu’s sanshou (combat) team are expected to shoulder the heavy task of making up the deficit. With six gold needed for the whole team (both taolu and sanshou), the fighters must grab four more in the next few days of competition.

Also in martial art news, the third gold for the judo team went to Nguyen Quoc Hung in the men’s 66kg. Hung trounced rival Saw Maing San from Myanmar.

Later, his teammate Van Ngoc Tu made it four with a victory in the women’s 48kg class, beating Phetnida Syamphone of the host nation. It was the fourth SEA Games gold for the athlete who last month was crowned in jujitsu, a new sport to Viet Nam, during the third Asian Indoor Games (AIG).

Nguyen Thi Kieu then added a gold to her collection by winning in the women’s 57kg pool. She defeated Laos’ Chipchinda Bouhphaaksone.

Newcomer, Dang Le Bich Van and Ho Ngan Giang added two bronze medals in the women’s 52kg and men’s 60kg categories respectively.

Despite sending three women to the final of boxing events none of them could manage to win gold for Viet Nam.

Nguyen Thi Hoa lost to Rosie Gabuco of the Philippines in the 46kg final and Ngo Thi Chung and Nguyen Thi Lien also suffered defeat, both to Thai fighters.

However three silvers was considered a good result for Viet Nam who have developed in a sport that has been dominated by Thailand and the Philippines for a decade.

In other sports, the Vietnamese petanque (boules) team enjoyed their second gold yesterday after mixed trio Le Hong Phuoc, Vo Tan Xuan and Phan Thi Thuy Diem defeated the Cambodian team 13-5 in the final. Their first gold went to the AIG’s champion Nguyen Thi Hien two days ago.

Earlier, the men’s beach volleyball team ensured another medal after winning a place in the semi-finals. Yesterday, they defeated title favourite Thailand 2-0.

In billiards & snooker, Nguyen Phuc Long thrashed Indonesian rival Ricky Yang 9-1 in the men’s 9-ball pool singles to win a gold, the third for the team. The two previous gold medals were won in the men’s one-cushion carom and men’s 9 ball doubles events.

Later, wrestler Pham Thi Hue city was honoured in the women’s under-51kg class.

After eight days, Viet Nam has won 61 gold medals, as many as Thailand but rank second in the medal tally as they have only 55 silvers compared to Thailand’s 68.

Indonesia replaced Singapore in third place after their outstanding performance yesterday. In total they have won 32 gold, 37 silver and 60 bronze medals.

The 25th SEA Games which has lured all 11 countries in the region to compete will close tomorrow.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News