Vietnam bags 10 golds in first day of SEA Games

Weightlifter Vương Thị Huyền (centre) celebrates her gold medal in the women’s 45kg event at the SEA Games on Sunday. VNA/VNS Photo Hoàng Linh

HANOI– Vietnam brought home 10 gold medals on the first official competition day of the ongoing 30th Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines on Sunday.

Đinh Thị Như Quỳnh triumphed in the women’s cross country mountain bike event, bagging the first gold medal for Vietnam at the regional sports event. Her teammate Cà Thị Thơm won silver.

“This is a wonderful result for Quỳnh and Vietnam cycling. Vietnamese athletes overcame many difficulties in training as conditions for our cyclists were not as good as for those of other countries. Quỳnh and Thơm were outstanding. The SEA Games’ gold medal is a good chance for Vietnam cycling to reach to higher goals such as Olympic and Asian Games,” said Trần Đức Phấn, head of the Vietnam sports delegation at the Games.

The second gold medal was won by Nguyễn Đức Hòa and Nguyễn Thị Hải Yến in the dancesport’s quickstep. The pair previously brought home two silver medals in tango and Viennese waltz.

Nguyễn Đoàn Minh Trường and Nguyễn Trọng Nhã Uyên also competed well in the dancesport jive to snatch a gold medal.

In the men’s 55kg, weightlifter Lại Gia Thành beat his rivals to take a gold medal.

Thành finished his performance with a total lift of 264kg including 122kg in snatch and 142kg in clean & jerk. John Fabuar Ceniza of the Philippines and Wi Joyo of Indonesia were the runners-up.

Meanwhile, weightlifter Vương Thị Huyền clinched a gold medal in the women’s 45kg event with a lift of 172 kg. It is also her first gold ever at a SEA Games.

Lisa Setiawati of Indonesia, who won the 2019 World Weightlifting Championships, finished second in this category.

“I’d like to give this gold medal to people who believe in me, especially my late father,” said Huyền.

Two weeks ago, Huyền’s father passed away suddenly. It was a great shock, especially in the important training period to prepare for the region’s biggest sports event. However, with the encouragement of the training board and her teammates as well as her will power, Huyền returned to training after three days of mourning.

“During the training for the Games, my father often said that he waited for my victory in the Philippines. When my father died, I wasn’t discouraged and I was determined to repay my father’s trust,” said Huyền.

This year, Huyền won three Asian gold medals and two World Cup gold medals.

“The SEA Games gold medal will be a driving force for me towards the Olympics in Tokyo,” Huyền added.

In the Kurash, which refers to a number of folk wrestling styles practised in central Asia, Trần Thương proved his power in the men’s under 90kg category to win a sixth gold medal for Vietnam.

Hoàng Thị Tình also added to Vietnam’s medal tally with a seventh gold in the women’s 52kg.

In the arnis event, Vietnamese martial artists took home three gold medals more. Vũ Thị Thanh Bình beat the hosts’ athlete in the women’s 55kg to triumph. While Nguyễn Thị Cẩm Nhi and Đào Thị Hồng Nhung won golds in the women’s over 60kg and 69kg category, respectively.

The SEA Games is a multi-sport event involving participants from the eleven countries of Southeast Asia – the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Timor-Leste, Brunei, Indonesia, Myanmar and Singapore.

Vietnam set a goal to finish in the top three of the SEA Games’ medal table. The 856-strong contingent including 568 athletes will take part in 43 out of 56 sports in the Philippines.