Vietnamese athlete Duong Thuy Vi on September 21 clinched the first gold medal for Vietnam in the women’s Jianshu/Qiangshu all-round category at the 17th Asian Games (ASIAD) in Incheon, South Korea.
Vietnam now ranks seventh in the medal tally, having one gold, two silvers and four bronzes. Host South Korea is in first place with 12 golds, 10 silvers and nine bronzes. China is second with 12 golds, nine silvers and 11 bronzes.Third-placed Japan takes seven golds, eight silvers and 10 bronzes.
Vi secured 19.41 points, 0.03 more than silver medalist Li Yi from Macao, while Seo Hee-ju from South Korea brought home the bronze.
Nguyen Manh Quyen also took home the bronze in the men’s Daoshu/Gunshu category with 19.33 points, Sun Peiyuan from China won the gold and Lee Young-hyun from South Korea grasped the silver.
Swimmer Hoang Quy Phuoc missed a chance in the last minutes in the men’s 200m freestyle event though he was earlier expected to win a medal for the country. Phuoc just came seventh behind gold medalist Kosuke Hagino from Japan, silver medalist Sun Jan from China and bronze medalist Park Tae-hwan.
Vietnam collected one more bronze medal yesterday when Nguyen Thi Quyen and Le Thi Tam were defeated by Laos 19-21, 16-21 in the semifinals in the women’s sepaktakraw team.
In marksmanship, Vietnam failed to take home the gold at the Games on Saturday when Nguyen Hoang Phuong took the silver in the men’s 50m pistol event. Jitu Rai from India and Wang Zhiwei from China won gold and bronze respectively.
Earlier, Tran Quoc Cuong, Nguyen Hoang Phuong and Hoang Xuan Vinh showed poor performance in the men’s 50m pistol team event as they just snatched the bronze medal.
The Chinese team won the gold and the South Korean team brought home the silver.
Thach Kim Tuan just secured the silver in the men’s 56kg weightlifting event when he lifted up 134kg in the
snatch and 160kg in the clean and jerk, briefl y giving him a new Asian record for combined total. Om Yun Chol from North Korea secured the gold as he lifted 170kg in the clean and jerk and 128kg in the snatch and the bronze went to Wu Jingbibao from China.
The 2014 Asian Games, also known as the 17th ASIAD, which is taking place from September 19 to October 4 in Incheon, is a multisport event held every four years among athletes in Asia. The 17th edition of the Asian Games is the largest sporting competition in Asia, featuring 439 events in 36 sports.
Vietnam has 199 athletes and 99 officials at the 2014 Asian Games.
The athletes are competing in 21 sports, with at least two gold medals expected.
