VietNamNet Bridge - Taekwondo athletes Nguyen Thanh Thao and Nguyen Quoc Cuong won a silver and a bronze medal for Vietnam at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore on August 17.

Taekwondo artist Nguyen Thanh Thao

Thao won the silver medal after being defeated by her UK rival, Jones Jade, in the final match of the women’s 55kg weight category. Previously, Thao was successful against Abdul Rahman, an outstanding Singaporean athlete, to reach the final.

On the same day, Nguyen Quoc Cuong secured a bronze medal. HCM City-born Cuong lost to Nursultan Mamayev of Kazakhstan in the semi-finals of the men’s 55kg. Cuong had defeated Colombia’s Munoz Oscar 4-3 in the last qualifying round to reach the semifinals.

Earlier, weightlifter Thach Kim Tuan clinched Vietnam’s first gold medal in the men’s 56kg weight category on the opening day of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games on August 15.

Sixteen-year-old Hoang Quy Phuoc from Da Nang, who was a wild card entry in the men’s 100m butterfly and 200m freestyle, won the qualifying round of the men’s 100m butterfly in 54.74 seconds to became the only Southeast Asian athlete to compete in the swimming semifinals.

But Phuoc was eliminated in the next race after he clocked 54.71 to place sixth among thirteen swimmers. The swimmers were from China, France, Italy, Australia, the US, and South Korea.

PV