Finswimmer Nguyen Thanh Loc (back, centre) broke the SEA Games record and won the gold medal in the men's 100m surface event on May 21. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) — Asian finswimming powerhouse Vietnam won four, whileIndonesia took two out of seven events held on May 21 at the My Dinh WaterSports Palace in Hanoi.
The hosts set four new records on the first day of thecompetition.
Nguyen Thanh Loc finished first and broke the SEA Games recordwith a time of 34.82sec in the men's 100m surface event.
His result passed the old record of 36.94 set by NguyenTrung Kien in the 2011 Games in Indonesia.
Pham Thi Thu added the second in the women's 100m surfaceevent. She won with a time of 40.41sec, another record. The previous besttime of 40.61sec was set by Thu in qualification.
Cao Thi Duyen proved her talent in the women's 100m bi-finsevent, coming in at 49.04sec. Duyen broke the 50.41sec record sheset in the morning.
Later in the day, Kim Anh Kiet broke a 19-year-old record in themen's 1,500m surface.
The 19-year-old completed his race in 12:52.45, beating the oldrecord of 13:19.26 set by compatriot Ngo Xuan Phuong in the SEAGames 22 in 2003, also in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese team finished first in the men's 4x200m relaysurface event, but the final result will not be announced until May22 due to a complaint from Indonesia.
Indonesia haveinvested strongly in finswimming and recently secured two golds and a record.Harvey Hubert Marcello Hutasuhut clinched the gold with a new Games record of43.51sec in the men's 100m bi-fins, beating compatriot Wesshasartar Nutt's44.37s feat set in the 2011 Indonesia Games.
The other gold was in the women's 4x200m relay surfaceevent.
There are 13 finswimming events this Games. The remainingsix will be held on May 22.
Vietnam hope to take eight to nine gold medals todefend their top place in the table./.
