Viet Nam scooped 20 gold medals in the penultimate day of competition at the 25th SEA Games to seal second place in the overall medal tally, . . .

Third place went to Indonesia with 43 gold, 53 silver and 73 bronze medals, with Malaysia and the Philippines hot on their heels.

Yesterday, December 17, offered 81 sets of medals, the most in all 10 days of competition, and the medal race for the top position between Viet Nam and Thailand was very close.

With six gold medals from pencak silat, five from wushu, four from wrestling and two from athletics, Viet Nam led the medal tally until the night before, when Thailand moved past the 80 gold mark.

At the Lao International Trade Exhibition and Convention Centre, pencak silat opened the day for Viet Nam by scooping six golds.

The first gold belonged to Le Thi Phi Nga in the women’s under-50kg class. Five gold medals followed from Nguyen Ba Trinh (men’s U60kg), Le Thi Hong Ngoan (women’s U70kg), Huynh Thi Thu Hong (women’s U55kg), Nguyen Thi Phuong Thuy (women’s U65kg) and Vu The Hoang (men’s U80kg)

Wushu also took home five gold medals in combat events from Do Thi Nhan (women’s U45kg), Tran Van Kien (men’s U48kg), Tan Thi Ly (women’s U56kg), Nguyen Thuy Ngan (women’s U52kg) and Vuong Dinh Khanh (men’s U70kg).

At Chao Anou-vong Gymnasium, judoists also won two gold medals from Bui Thi Hoa, who beat Teni Anggraeni of Indonesia in the women’s U63kg category, and Nguyen Thi Nhu, who overcame Ruth Dugaduga of Philippines in the women’s U78kg category.

Besides martial artists, who made dominant performances, the wrestlers also brought home four gold medals from Ha Van Hieu (men’s 120kg freestyle), Pham Duc Khang (men’s 50kg freestyle), Nguyen Huy Ha (men’s U55kg freestyle) and Nguyen The Anh (men’s U60kg freestyle).

Vietnamese wrestlers dominated the sport with seven gold and six silver medals.

The 20th and final gold medal was won by Nguyen Thi Quynh in the women’s 200m surface finswimming event. Quynh finished the race with a time of 1min 40.54sec, and broke the old record of 1:42.66 seconds set by Vietnamese La Thanh Huyen six years ago at the 22nd SEA Games.

In the four remaining events, Vietnamese athletes only won silver medals.

Track and field victories

Athletics also contributed two gold medals from Nguyen Dinh Cuong and Truong Thanh Hang in the men’s and women’s 1,500m events, respectively. Previously, Cuong and Hang also won golds in their favourite events: men’s and women’s 800m on Monday.

However, the victory this time did not come easily, as they were followed closely by their opponents.

Cuong, who dominated the event at the last SEA Games, stayed in the pack to save some energy before delivering a quick finish, surpassing Malaysian Mohd Jironi Riduan and Vadivellan Mahendran, and finishing the race with a time of 3:46.58.

Meanwhile, contrary to the 800m event where she has no rival, Truong Thanh Hang seemed to have a real opponent in the 1,500m event. Naing Naing Win of Myanmar sped up to close in with Hang near the finish line, but Hang powered away in the final 10 metres to win in 4:19.48.

Vietnamese Bui Thi Hien also took the bronze medal in the event.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News