Vietnamese athletes grabbed 20 gold medals on the ninth day at the SEA Games on Thursday but were still three golds adrift of top-placed Thailand.

The gold winners in the pencak silat competitions were Le Thi Phi Nga in the women’s 50kg, Nguyen Ba Trinh in the men’s 60kg, Huynh Thi Thu Hong in the women’s 55kg, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thuy in the women’s 65kg, Vu The Hoang in the men’s 80kg and Le Thi Hong Ngoan in the women’s 75kg categories.

The wushu gold winners were Do Thi Nhan in the women’s 45kg, Tran Van Kien in the men’s 48kg, Nguyen Thuy Ngan in the women’s 52kg, Tan Thi Ly in the women’s 56kg and Vuong Dinh Khanh in the men’s 70kg categories.

In wrestling event, the gold winners were Pham Duc Khang, Nguyen Huy Ha, Nguyen The Anh and Ha Van Hieu in the men’s 50kg, 55kg, 60kg and 120kg respectively.

In the track and field events, Nguyen Dinh Cuong and Truong Thanh Hang took gold in the men’s and women’s 1,500m races.

Judo martial artists contributed two more gold medals as Bui Thi Hoa and Nguyen Thi Nhu Y emerged on top in the women’s 63kg and 78kg categories, while Nguyen Thi Quynh won the women’s 200m fin swimming contest.

Thailand stayed on top with 84 gold, 80 silver and 95 bronze medals while Vietnam stayed in second place with 81gold, 71 silver and 57 bronze medals.

Indonesia, the hosts of the 26^th South East Asian Games in 2011, is in third place with 42 gold, 53 silver and 72 bronze medals, followed by Malaysia with 40 gold, 39 silver and 58 bronze medals.

The Philippines is in fifth place with 37 gold, 34 silver and 47 bronze medals, ahead of Singapore with 33 gold, 30 silver and 34 bronze medals.

Hosts Laos are in seventh place with 32 gold, 25 silver and 48 bronze medals, with Myanmar, Cambodia and Brunei are in the eighth, ninth and tenth spots with 10, three and one gold medals respectively. East Timor is at the bottom with just three bronze medals.

The 25^th SEA Games in Laos started on December 9 and will finish on December 18.

Source: Thanh Nien