Phnom Penh (VNA) – Vietnam bagged 15 gold medals, ranking second in the tally after Indonesia (23 golds) as of 20:30 on June 4 - the first official competition day of the 12th ASEAN Para Games that is taking place in Cambodia.
Notably, Vietnamese weightlifters and swimmers won many gold medals on the day. Dang Thi Linh Phuong won two gold medals in the women's under-50kg weightlifting, Le Van Cong bagged two golds in the men’s under-49kg, and Nguyen Binh An got two golds in the men’s under-54kg.
Vo Huynh Anh Khoa brought home a gold medal as he came first in the 400m men’s freestyle swimming event, clocking 5 minutes and 20.94 seconds.
Meanwhile, Vi Thi Hang set a new Southeast Asian record of 6 minutes and 57.95 seconds in the 400m women’s freestyle swimming event. The old record was 9 minutes and 34.94 seconds by another Vietnamese swimmer Le Thi Dung.
In the men's 100m breaststroke swimming in the disability level of SB11, Nguyen Van Hanh finished first with 1 minute and 24.03 seconds.
Three Vietnamese athletes gained three top positions in the 50m backstroke event with a disability level of S4 including a gold medal for Nguyen Thanh Trung who broke the ASEAN Para Games record with 45.59 seconds, a silver for Nguyen Manh Phu with 54.60 seconds, and a bronze for Danh Hoa with 58.18 seconds.
Meanwhile, Vo Thanh Tung won gold in the men's 50m backstroke swimming event in the disability level of S5 with 41.88 seconds.
The 4x100m freestyle relay swimming team including Quach Van Vinh, Nguyen Hoang Nha, Nguyen Ngoc Thiet, and Vo Huynh Anh Khoa also won a gold medal – the sixth Vietnamese swimmers got on June 4.
In athletics, after Nguyen Thi Hai got the first gold medal in weightlifting in the women’s F57 event, Tran Van Nguyen also defeated an Indonesian competitor to win the gold medal in the men's javelin throw in the F40-41 event with 32.90m./.