Taekwondo artists brought Vietnam’s first gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games 2009 this morning, December 9.

The three Taekwondo artists who won the first gold medal for Vietnam on Dec. 9.

The maleteam, including Le Trung Anh, Nguyen Dinh Toan and Vu Thanh Duong, earned 8.73 points in the first performance and 8.20 points for the second, totaling 16.93 points to win gold. The Laos and Filipino teams ranked second and third.

On the first day of competition, the Vietnamese Taekwondo participates in three out of the five categories of events. The men’s team will take part in the morning with the women’s team and mixed doubles in the afternoon.

This is the first time Taekwondo has been added to the SEA Games. Taekwondo is seen to be a strength of Vietnam. Earlier this month the country ranked second at the World Taekwondo Championship 2009 (2 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals) in Egypt.

The sparring category will take place on December 10. Vietnam will join the sparring competition with Dinh Quang Toan (men’s over 78kg), Nguyen Trong Cuong (men’s under 84kg), Luong Minh Dat (men’s 80kg), Ha Thi Nguyen (women’s under 73kg) and Nguyen Thi Duong (women’s under 67kg).

Vietnam aims to win 4-5 gold medals from Taekwondo this SEA Games.

Besides this gold medal, Vietnam also scored a silver medal in women’s sepak takraw this morning.

PV