HCMC – Vietnam’s heroic athletes continued their great work in Indonesia as they secured 12 more gold medals on day seven of the 26th SEA Games, which will wrap up on Tuesday.
Vietnam remains second with 68 golds
Football side will meet Indonesia in semi-final
By Vu Duc - The Saigon Times Daily
 |
| Nguyen Huong Xuan of Vietnam (R) kicks Tuti Trisnayanti of Indonesia during the women’s under 55kg category final in Indonesia on Thursday. Xuan won gold - Photo: TTXVN |
HCMC – Vietnam’s heroic athletes continued their great work in Indonesia as they secured 12 more gold medals on day seven of the 26th SEA Games, which will wrap up on Tuesday.
Vietnam has now collected 68 golds, 63 silvers and 64 bronzes, thus maintaining second place in the table. Hosts Indonesia are top with 108 golds, 81 silvers and 76 bronzes and third-placed Thailand are on 64 golds, 58 silvers, and 69 bronzes.
The Vietnamese pencak silat team dominated at the Games after taking home six golds on Thursday due to excellent performances from Vo Duy Phuong, Tran Van Toan, Nguyen Huong Xuan, Nguyen Thu Yen, Tran Thi Luyen and Le Dang Minh.
Phuong pummeled Jul Omar Abd of the Philippines 5-0 in the final of the men’s under 55kg category, taking the first gold for the pencak silat team, while Toan took the second gold after defeating Anurak Pakkaranang of Thailand 5-0 in the final of the men’s under 60kg category.
Xuan brought home the third gold as she beat Tuti Trisnayanti of Indonesia 5-0 in the women’s under 55kg category, the fourth gold belonged to Yen when she beat Mariati of Indonesia 5-0 in the women’s under 65kg category.
Luyen hit the fifth gold after beating Sofani Rakhmaliant of Indonesia 5-0 in the women’s under 75kg category and Minh overcame Pranoto of Indonesia 5-0 in the final of the men’s under 90kg category, while Nguyen Duy Chien narrowly lost out on the men’s under 70kg category after losing 3-2 to Al Jufferi of Malaysia in the final.
Wrestlers Ha Van Hieu, Can Tan Du and Bui Anh Tuan bagged three more golds on Thursday as Hieu defeated Chun Chivinn of Cambodia in the final of the men’s 120kg category, Du beat Fahriansyah of Indonesia in the men’s under 84kg category and Tuan defeated Ardiansyah Darmans also of Indonesia in the men’s under 74kg category.
So far, the wrestling team has clinched eight golds and five silvers, surpassing their original target. Previous golds were won by Khong Van Khoa in the men’s 74kg (Greco-Roman) category, Nguyen Van Duc in the men’s 120kg (Greco-Roman) category, Tran Thi Dieu Ninh in the women’s 55kg category, Nguyen Huy Ha and Nguyen The Anh in the men’s under 60kg and under 66kg categories.
In fencing, Vietnam also secured one more gold on Thursday when Nguyen Thanh Van, Nguyen Thu Hien and Tran Thi Len beat Dian Eka Pertiwi, Dian Rahmayati and Ikah Sarikah of Indonesia 43-35 in the final of the women’s epee team.
The fencing team has also dominated at the Games with four golds, three silvers and three bronzes. The three previous golds belonged to Tran Thi Len in the women’s epee individual event, Nguyen Thi Tuoi in the foil individual event and Nguyen Thi Le Dung in the women’s sabre individual event.
In open water swimming event, Chau Ba Anh Tu won gold in the men’s 5000m event, clocking at 1:07:02: 52, silver medalist Ricky Angga Wijava of Indonesia finished in 1:09:58:56 and Brandon Boon of Singapore came third on 1:10:02:92. Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc gained silver in the women’s 5000m event, clocking 1:13:45:03, behind Malaysian swimmer Heidi Gan, who finished in 1:11:47:45.
Meanwhile, Duong Thanh Binh and Nguyen Dinh Huy took home the third gold for the rowing team in the men’s M2 event. The men’s team won silver in the M8+ event, Pham Thi Hue also secured silver in the women’s W1X event, Nguyen Thi Huu and Pham Thi Hai clinched the silver in the women’s LW2X event, Nguyen Thi Hong, Hoang Thi Phuong, Le Thi An and Bui Thi Nhat bagged silver in the women’s LW4 event, while Luong Duc Toan and Nguyen Phuong Dong brought home bronze in the men’s M2X event.
In women’s futsal, Vietnam beat Myanmar 2-0 in the opener, they will face Indonesia today in the second game. Vietnam drew 2-2 with Indonesia in their first game of Group A in the men’s futsal, they will meet Philippines tomorrow.
The biggest disappointment for Vietnam was in badminton on Thursday when the nation’s top player, world No.7 Nguyen Tien Minh, was defeated by underdog Wong Zi Liang Derek, who is ranked at 42 in the world, of Singapore 21-14, 21-15 in the quarter-finals.
* Vietnam’s U-23 squad will meet hosts Indonesia in the semi-final after defeating Laos 3-1 in their final game at Lebak Bulus Stadium on Thursday, while defending champions Malaysia will face Myanmar in the other last four clash.
Vietnam and Myanmar, who beat East Timor 1-0 in their group stage final on Sunday, have 13 points each from four wins and one draw but Vietnam finish top of Group B thanks to goal difference.
Vietnam just needed a 1-0 victory over Laos to top the group. However, Laos, who had already failed to qualify, fancied upsetting their rivals.
And they got off to a flier when Keoviengpheth hit a fourth minute opener.
Vietnam were further hampered in the 15th minute when defender Nguyen Thanh Long Giang was given a straight red after bringing down a Laos player outside the penalty box.
But Vietnam stuck at it and midfielder Pham Thanh Luong deservedly leveled thanks to striker Hoang Dinh Tung in the 64th minute. And they went in front when midfielder Nguyen Van Quyet finished after a pass from Dinh Tung
Laos were also reduced to ten men when captain Singto was sent off for a second booking in 78 minutes.
Nguyen Trong Hoang missed a penalty before Le Van Thang made it 3-1 with a minute to go.
In Group A, Indonesia were defeated 1-0 by Malaysia at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium while Singapore had a surprise 2-0 win over Thailand.
Malaysia won Group A with 10 points from four games, second-placed Indonesia were on nine points, Singapore ranked third with seven points. Thailand, who are 13-times winners, ended the group on three points from while Cambodia were pointless.
Malaysia will meet Myanmar in the first semi-final at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, while Vietnam will take on Indonesia at 7:30 p.m. at the same venue.
| Medals Standings | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | | 1 Indonesia | 108 | 81 | 76 | 265 | | 2 Vietnam | 68 | 63 | 64 | 195 | | 3 Thailand | 64 | 58 | 6*9 | 191 | | 4 Malaysia | 37 | 37 | 51 | 125 | | 5 Singapore | 32 | 36 | 56 | 124 | | 6 Philippines | 19 | 33 | 42 | 94 | | 7 Laos | 6 | 5 | 21 | 32 | | 8 Myanmar | 3 | 13 | 21 | 37 | | 9 Cambodia | 3 | 10 | 15 | 28 | | 10 Brunei | 0 | 1 | 6 | 7 | | 11 Timor Leste | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |