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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
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
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,
But the
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
"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
Sprinter Vu Thi Huong and her
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. — VNS
Asian Games Medals Tally
Country/territory | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
1 China | 197 | 117 | 98 |
2 South Korea | 75 | 63 | 91 |
3 Japan | 48 | 73 | 94 |
4 Iran | 20 | 14 | 25 |
5 Kazakhstan | 18 | 23 | 37 |
6 India | 14 | 17 | 33 |
7 Chinese Taipei 13 | 16 | 38 | |
8 Uzbekistan | 11 | 22 | 23 |
9 Thailand | 11 | 9 | 32 |
10 Malaysia | 9 | 18 | 14 |
11 Hong Kong | 8 | 15 | 17 |
12 North Korea | 6 | 10 | 19 |
13 Saudi Arabia | 5 | 3 | 5 |
14 Bahrain | 5 | 0 | 4 |
15 Indonesia | 4 | 9 | 13 |
16 Singapore | 4 | 7 | 6 |
17 Kuwait | 4 | 6 | 1 |
18 Qatar | 4 | 5 | 6 |
19 Philippines | 3 | 4 | 9 |
20 Pakistan | 3 | 2 | 3 |
21 Mongolia | 2 | 5 | 9 |
22 Jordan | 2 | 2 | 2 |
23 Viet Nam | 1 | 17 | 15 |
24 Kyrgyzstan | 1 | 2 | 2 |
25 Macao | 1 | 1 | 4 |
26 Bangladesh | 1 | 1 | 1 |
27 Tajikistan | 1 | 0 | 3 |
28 Syria | 1 | 0 | 1 |
29 Myanmar | 0 | 5 | 3 |
30 UAE | 0 | 4 | 1 |
