Vietnamese athletes won seven gold medals on December 15 at the ongoing SEA Games 27 in Myanmar , bringing the country’s total number of golds at the event to 36.

The Pencak silat team contributed three out of the seven gold medals, thanks to Le Si Kien (men’s 85kg), Nguyen Duy Tuyen (men’s 80kg), and Nguyen Thi Yen (women’s 75kg).

16-year-old swimmer Lam Quang Nhat brought a nice surprise when he finished first at 15 minutes and 39.44 seconds in the men’s 1,500m freestyle event to earn gold.

Meanwhile, 53-year-old player Dang Dinh Tien, the oldest athlete of the Vietnamese delegation at this SEA Games, also added a gold in the one cushion carom single event to the country’s medal tally.

The shooting team went away with two gold medals with one in the male team’s 10m air pistol and the other in the men’s 10m air pistol by Hoang Xuan Vinh.

On the same day, the Vietnamese women’s football team beat the host Myanmar 1 – 0 to rank first in Group A and pocketed a ticket to the semifinal. Meanwhile, the men’s team earned an emphatic 5 – 0 victory against Laos , rekindling the hope of a place in the next round. Vietnam must win Malaysia in the next match to go through to the semifinals.

Vietnamese athletes also brought home 9 silver and 6 bronze medals on Dec. 15 alone.

At the end of the day, Vietnam ranked third with 36 golds, 32 silvers and 41 bronzes, following Thailand (45 golds) and Myanmar (38 golds).-VNA