HCMC - The Vietnamese ASIAD team fell well short of their medal expectations at the 16th Asian Games (ASIAD) with only one gold of the six they’d hoped for.
Le Bich Phuong snagged the gold medal in the karate event. The team returns with 17 silvers and 15 bronzes, ranking them 24th - the second worst placing since Vietnam returned to Asia’s biggest sporting games in 1982. This year the team had aimed at 20th position.
Vietnam’s worst performance was at ASIAD 1990 in Beijing, China, when it did not win any medals.
The 33 medals were in shooting, athletics, rowing, wrestling, chess, Chinese chess, sepaktakraw, billiards, and martial arts events.
The karate entrant, Phuong, topped the team as the only gold medal holder, followed by sprinter Vu Thi Huong and medium-distance runner Truong Thanh Hang, each having two medals in track and field events.
Phuong defeated Kobayashi Miki from Japan in the women’s kumite final. Phuong surprisingly defeated world defending champion Miki 4-3 in the women’s 55kg category.
The Vietnamese track and field team ended a medal drought at the Games when they took home three silvers and two bronzes. Previously, Vietnam had never won a track and field medal at ASIAD.
Vu Thi Huong opened the new chapter for Vietnam’s athletics at ASIAD with a bronze medal in the women’s 100m event as she was clocked in 11’’43 behind Asian champion Fukushima Chisato from Japan with 11’’33 and Khubbieva Guzel from Uzbekistan with 11’’34.
Three days later, Huong earned the silver in the women’s 200m category with 23.74 seconds just behind Takahashi Momoko from Japan, who took the gold with 23.62 seconds.
Truong Thanh Hang as Southeast Asian defending champion took home two silvers. Hang came second in the final round of the women’s 800m with 2:00.91 minutes, breaking the SEA Games record. Earlier, Hang also won the silver in the women’s 1500m category.
Meanwhile, Vu Van Huyen also brought home the bronze in the men’s decathlon event after overcoming many strong opponents from Japan and China. Huyen finished third with 7,755 points taking the bronze in the event. Karpov Dmitriy from Kazakhstan, who held the Asian decathlon record, won the gold, collecting 8,026 points followed by Kim Kun Woo from South Korea with 7,808 points.
The rowing and wrestling teams also surprised with medals.
Rowing took 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 while the wrestling team 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.
Vietnamese wushu fell short of their expected medal tally with five silvers and four bronzes but still held the most medals of the team.
The Vietnamese delegation had 261 athletes competing in 29 of the 42 sports at the Games.
In 1994 at the Hiroshima Asian Games in Japan, taekwondo artist Tran Quang Ha won the country’s first gold medal, while Pham Hong Ha and Tran Van Thong brought home two silver medals.
At the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar in 2006, the country finished 19th with three gold, 13 silver and seven bronze medals. Briefly
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New European number one Martin Kaymer also landed a cheque for US$1.5 million after wrapping up his first money-list title.
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