The Olympics sports of athletics, rowing, and wrestling shined at the 2010 Asian Games (ASIAD) in Guangzhou, China, providing moments for sports fans to savour after Viet Nam won more medals than in previous years.

With only one day to go, Viet Nam has won 33 medals of all types at the ASIAD 2010, but the country’s current 23rd place on the medal tally is the second worst place Viet Nam has had since the country returned to the continental games in 1982.

Viet Nam did not compete at ASIAD 1986 in Seoul, South Korea, while Viet Nam’s worst performance was at ASIAD 1990 in Beijing, China, when it did not win any medals.

Teenager Le Bich Phuong yesterday morning grabbed front-page headlines of both major newswires and printed newspapers nationwide when she ended the gold drought for the country at ASIAD and lifted the country four spots in the medal tally on Thursday.

The most noticeable achievement at ASIAD, however, was the phenomenal success in athletics and the unexpected medals from rowing and wrestling.

High marks

Like previous Asian Games, Vietnamese athletics teams came to the Asian Games in Guangzhou to compete and achieve the best possible result, or hope for at least a bronze medal.

“I came to the games with the hope for a bronze medal in the 100m event and a slight hope for the 200m event,” said Vu Thi Huong, sprint queen of Southeast Asia.

But the team made a historic breakthrough when it won five medals, all of them in important events in athletics. Previously, Viet Nam had never won an athletics medal at ASIAD.

Vu Thi Huong opened the historic page for Viet Nam’s athletics at ASIAD with a bronze medal in the women’s 100m event on Tuesday.

One day later, Truong Thanh Hang, the medium-distance top runner in Southeast Asia, bettered Huong’s achievement with a silver medal in the women’s 1,500m.

The success reached a climax on Thursday when Huong and Hang won silvers in the women’s 200m and 800m events, while Vu Van Huyen also brought home a bronze in the men’s decathlon event after overcoming many powerhouses, including Japan and China.

Success gave confidence to the athletes and changed the sports officials’ mentality towards Vietnamese athletes’ opportunities in athletics at ASIAD.

“My bronze proved that athletes from Southeast Asia can compete with other athletes from across Asia,” Huyen said.

“Athletics achieved a breakthrough at ASIAD this year and this proved that it was not a matter of small or big size. It showed how building a good training programme and talented athletes matter to our sport at the moment,” said Le Quy Phuong, head of Viet Nam’s sports delegation at ASIAD.

Rowing took sports supporters by surprise with two silver medals in the women’s double scull and lightweight quadruple scull events, with four of six rowers making their debut in the continental games.

“The thing that makes us happy after winning medals at ASIAD is that more people know about us and our rowing club. We are very happy about that,” said rower Tran Thi Sam.

Wrestling also won its first medal at ASIAD when 19-year-old Nguyen Thi Lua won a silver medal in the women’s 48kg freestyle event.

Viet Nam’s women’s chess team ended with a bronze medal at the Asian Games after a loss yesterday to eventual gold-medal winner, China.

Sprinter Vu Thi Huong and her team-mates failed to finish in top three in the women’s 4×100m relay.

Their time was 44.77 seconds.

Thailand won in 44.09, ahead of China (44.22 and Japan (44.41).

Viet Nam has won one gold, 17 silver and 15 bronze medals to rank 23rd on the medals table.

Source: VNS