Anh Vien takes two more gold medals in SEA Games

Anh Vien takes two more gold medals in SEA Games

By Vu Duc

HCMC – Nguyen Thi Anh Vien clinched two more gold medals on day six of competition today, December 6, in the 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), which is taking place in Manila.

As predicted, Nguyen Thi Anh Vien finished first in the women’s 200m freestyle event in two minutes and 0.75 seconds. Natthanan Junkrangjang of Thailand came second in two minutes and 0.93 seconds and Remedy Alexis Rule from the Philippines ranked third in two minutes and 1.64 seconds.

Defending champion and Games record holder Anh Vien also took home her second gold in the women’s 200m backstroke event in two minutes and 15.32 seconds. Nurul Fitriyati from Indonesia earned the silver in two minutes and 17.84 seconds and Chloe Kennedy Anne Isleta from the Philippines won the bronze in two minutes and 18.48 seconds.

Vien has so far collected three golds in the Games. Vien brought home her first gold in the women’s 200m medley event on Wenesday.

Le Nguyen Paul just collected the bronze in the men’s 100m butterfly event in 53.89 seconds. The gold went to Joseph Isaac Schooling of Singapore in 51.84 seconds and the silver belonged to Singaporean swimmer Zheng Wen Quah in 51.87 seconds.

Le Nguyen Paul, Ngo Dinh Chuyen, Tran Hung Nguyen and Hoang Quy Phuoc bagged the bronze in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay event in three minutes and 22.45 seconds. The Singaporean team won the gold in three minutes and 16.82 seconds and the Philippine team earned the silver in three minutes and 22.32 seconds.

Ly Hoang Nam won an historic gold medal for the Vietnamese sporting delegation in the Games. Nam beat his compatriot Daniel Cao Nguyen 6-2, 6-4 the all-Vietnamese men’s singles event. Cao also received the silver.

Earlier, Savanna Ly Nguyen was defeated 6-0, 7-5 by Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia in the final of the women’s singles event, just taking the silver.

Nguyen Thi That took the gold medal in the women’s individual road race event. The Vietnamese cyclist finished 108-km race in three hours, 23 minutes and 57 seconds, finishing just a bike’s length ahead of the Philippine opponent Jermyn Prado.    

The local athletes secured one more gold in the canoeing event in today’s competition. Truong Thi Phuong clinched the gold in the women’s 500m category, the silver went to Tran Van Vu in the men’s 1,000m K1 category and the bronze belonged Tran Thanh in the men’s 1,000m C2 category.

Nguyen Thanh An, Nguyen Xuan Loi, To Duc Anh and Nguyen Van Quyet brought home the gold for Vietnam as they earned a 45-39 win over their opponents of Thailand in the men’s team foil category in the fencing event.  While Do Thi Anh, Nguyen Thu Phuong, Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong and Lu Thi Thanh Nhan also won the silver in the women’s team foil category.

Judo athlete Le Anh Tai clinched the gold in the men’s under-90kg category as he beat opponent from Thailand in the final game. Nguyen Thi Nhu Y just took the silver in the women’s over-78kg category and Nguyen Chau Hoang Lan secured the bronze in the men’s over-100kg category.

Early in the morning, Pham Thi Hong Le earned the bronze in the women’s marathon event after finishing third in three hours, two minutes and 52 seconds while athletes Ngo Phuong Mai bagged the bronze in the women’s 3m springboard category. 

In the football event, Vietnam’s women’s football team reached the finals of the Games after defeating hosts Philippines 2-0 in the semifinal game on Thursday while Thailand defeated Myanmar 1-0 on the same day.

Thai Thi Thao opened for her team in the 60th minute with a kick in the penalty box after receiving the ball from Huynh Nhu before Tuyet Dung finalized the game at 2-0 in the 84th minute.  

With this victory, Vietnam will meet archrivals Thailand at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday in the final.

After six days of the Games, Vietnam has fallen to third place in the overall medals tally with 38 gold, 41 silver and 52 bronze medals. Top-placed Philippines bagged 71 golds, 55 silvers and 50 bronzes. Indonesia is second with 40 gold, 41 silver and 47 bronze medals.