Team Vietnam secured their first silver medal and their third bronze so far at the ongoing 2018 Asian Games on Day 2 in Indonesia on Monday.
Weightlifter Thach Kim Tuan finished second in the men’s 56kg event, whereas 18-year-old Nguyen Huy Hoang exhibited an excellent performance in the pool, snatching the men’s 800m freestyle bronze medal.
Hoang’s third-place finish came as a bolt from the blue to Vietnam’s swimming as the Southeast Asian country only had one Asian Games medalist in the sport - star swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien.
Even though he had to compete with strong opponents in the continental competition, Hoang strived to complete the 800m freestyle race at 7:54.32, nearly six seconds and 1.31 seconds behind the gold medal winner Sun Yang from China and Japanese silver medalist Takeda Shogo, respectively.
Coming hot on the heels of Hoang’s feat was the silver medal of Tuan, who lifted 280kg to finish second in the men’s 56kg event. Tuan’s North Korean competitor Om Yun Chol won the gold medal with a new record of 287kg.
Vietnam's weightlifter Thach Kim Tuan competes at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia on August 20, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre |
On Tuesday, Vietnam was scheduled to continue competing in swimming, archery, shooting, taekwondo, women’s volleyball, weightlifting and wushu, with medal hopefuls including star swimmer Anh Vien and Olympian marksman Xuan Vinh starting their Asian Games journey.
Vietnam won one bronze medeal each in taekwondo and shooting on Day 1.
The 2018 Asian Games takes place in Indonesia from August 18 to September 2 with the theme “Energy of Asia.”
Vietnam’s sports delegation to the Games consists of 532 members, including 352 athletes. It aims to snatch at least three gold medals, with at least one in an Olympic sport.
Vietnam has been unable to win any other gold in an Olympic sport at Asia's largest playground, 20 years since taekwondo martial artist Ho Nhat Thong topped the men’s under 54kg category at the 1998 Asian Games in Thailand.
Except for that gold, all of the gold medals won by Vietnamese athletes at previous Asian Games editions were from non-Olympic sports.
At the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, Team Vietnam took home four gold medals in karate, bodybuilding and billiards. Vietnam also bagged golds in sepak takraw and karate at Doha 2006, one in karate at the 2010 edition in Guangdong, and one in wushu at Incheon 2014.
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