Bangkok (VNA) - The Vietnamese sports delegation continued to make impressive performance on December 13, winning six more gold medals to raise its total to 30 after four days of competition at the 33rd SEA Games in Bangkok, Thailand.
The most notable highlights came from athletics with record-breaking victories, alongside a brilliant day for karate and taekwondo - traditional martial arts that have long been strong disciplines of Vietnamese sports.
Runner Nguyen Thi Oanh and Vietnam’s 4x400m relay team once again proved their dominance, repeating their victories at SEA Games 33.
In the women’s 5,000m event, the defending champion Oanh faced little resistance from eight other competitors, finishing first with a time of 16 minutes 27.14 seconds.
True to her reputation as a multi-time champion, Oanh surged to the front from the very start. This time, she was closely shadowed by her young teammate Le Thi Tuyet, who helped underline Vietnam’s supremacy in long-distance running.
Together, the Vietnamese duo steadily widened the gap with the rest of the field, leaving no doubt about their nation’s absolute power in women’s distance events.
Tuyet rotated Oanh to take lead when it was about two third of the race but her senior quickly caught up with her and sprinted to the finish line first, earning her fifth 5,000m and the 13th SEA Games title in career. Tuyet came second later while Joida Gagnao of the Philippines was at third.
Later in the evening, the quartet of Ta Ngoc Tuong, Nguyen Thi Ngoc, Le Ngoc Phuc, and Nguyen Thi Hang captured the final medal of the day in the 4x400m mixed relay.
They clocked 3:15.07, setting a new tournament record and leaving Thailand and the Philippines well behind.
The team, a blend of two seasoned veterans and two promising newcomers, successfully defended their title and reaffirmed Vietnam’s position as the strongest relay squad in the region.
Earlier, Vietnamese martial arts teams continued their strong performance with karate and taekwondo leading the charge through multiple gold medals.
The karate squad dominated, securing three golds. Hoang Thi My Tam captured the women's 61kg title, trouncing Maneewan Butsuwan of the hosts 11-2.
She was followed by Dinh Thi Huong defending her women's 68kg crown with an 8-5 win over Indonesian Zefanya Ceyco Georgia.
Nguyen Thanh Truong added to the haul in the men's 84kg category, beating Arif Fadhillah of Indonesia 4-1 while Vo Van Hien took a silver in the men's 75kg after losing 3-9 to Indonesian Ignatius Joshua Kandou.
In taekwondo, Tran Thi Anh Tuyet starred by claiming a gold in the women's 53-57kg sparring, edging the host Thailand's fighter 2-1 across three tightly contested rounds.
Nguyen Thị Loan earned a silver in the women's 49-53kg category, and Ly Hong Phuc took a silver in the men's 74kg after his final against an Indonesian rival.
The ju-jitsu team settled for a silver in the mixed team event, falling to Thailand in the final.
Boxer Dao Dai Hai advanced to the men's 64kg semifinals with a quarterfinal victory over a Thai opponent, securing at least a bronze medal.
Weightlifter Thu Trang claimed a bronze in the women's 48kg category, succeeding on a 98kg opening lift but missing her next two attempts, finishing with a total of 181kg.
Meanwhile, the women's table tennis team suffered a 1-3 defeat to Thailand in the team event.
After four days of competition, Thailand continued to dominate, amassing 94 gold medals. Indonesia moved into second place with 31 golds, while Vietnam held third with 30 titles./.
VNA
