Vietnamese scullers won their second silver in the lightweight women’s 2,000m
quadruple sculls at the Asian Games in Guangzhou yesterday, Nov 19.

Attack: Vietnamese players (in white jerseys) seen in an attack on Thailand during the semi-final match of the women’s sepak takraw team event. Viet Nam won a bronze medal. (Photo: VNS)

Pham Thi Hai, Dang Thi
Tham, Nguyen Thi Huu and Tran Thi Sam clocked 6min 48.43sec – 13sec slower than
the Chinese gold medallists. Iran finished third in 6:52.45.

It was the second
silver of the team. On Thursday, Pham Thi Thao and Pham Thi Hue city grabbed the
first one in the 2,000m women’s doubles sculls at the International Rowing
Centre.

Earlier, the women’s
sepak takraw team performed poorly yesterday, losing 2-0 to Thailand in the
semi-finals to take the bronze.

At the Asian Games in
Qatar four years ago the team won two golds.

Xiangqi master Nguyen
Thanh Bao yesterday added the 11th silver medal to Viet Nam’s medal tally seven
days into competition in Guangzhou.

Bao’s silver medal
exceeded his coaches’ expectations, as they had targeted bronze for their male
athletes.

“I am lucky to win the
silver because two Chinese masters including one world champion competed in the
event. I could have even won the gold medal if I had not been so nervous in the
match against China’s Hong Zhi,” said Bao.

Bao and Hong were tied
with 11 points each after seven matches but he was ranked second because of his
previous loss to the Chinese.

“It was regrettable to
lose that match. Honestly we could have tied. If it happened, the door would
have been widely open for me to take the title. But I lost and failed to reach
the top podium,” Bao said.

In other news,
national top badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh was eliminated from ASIAD after
his 9-21, 16-21 defeat to China’s No 1 Lin Dan.

Minh, who made history
with Viet Nam’s first ever presence in an ASIAD quarter-final round, has never
enjoyed a victory over Lin.

Minh was the second
and last Vietnamese badminton player to remain in the tournament. His teammate
Vu Thi Trang was sent back home on Wednesday after her first round loss to Lydia
Cheah of India. Vietnamese athletes have missed four clear opportunities to win
golds in chess, taekwondo, shooting and wushu.

Viet Nam have so far
won 11 silver and 11 bronze medals. They are lying 20th in the medals table.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News