SEA Games 31: Vietnam wins gold medals in taekwondo, fencing, and gymnastics

The Vietnamese taekwondo team won four gold and one silver medals in the very first day of competition at the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31) on May 16.

Vietnamese taekwondo team have good start with four gold medals (Photo: NDO/Thuy Nguyen)
Vietnamese taekwondo team have good start with four gold medals (Photo: NDO/Thuy Nguyen)

In the mixed freestyle team poomsae event, the Vietnamese team, comprising three women and five men, scored 7.799 points to bag the gold medal.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese athletes surpassed those from the Philippines with 7.782 points in the men’s team poomsae event to win the second gold medal.

In the women’s team poomsae event, the Vietnamese team triumphed with a score of 8.016 points, higher than the runner-up of Thailand with 7.882 points.

The fourth gold medal came to Pham Quoc Viet with 8.049 points in the men’s standard poomsae event.

At the same time, Le Tran Kim Uyen brought home a silver medal at the women’s standard poomsae event.

* Vietnamese fencers on May 16 won the fourth medal at the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31) in the men’s sabre team event.

The Vietnamese team, including Vu Thanh An, Nguyen Xuan Loi, Nguyen Van Quyet, and substitute To Duc Anh, defeated the Thai team 45-28 to bag the gold medal.

* The same day, artistic gymnast Dinh Phuong Thanh brought home two gold medals in the men's horizontal bar and parallel bar events.

Gymnast Dinh Phuong Thanh wins two gold medals on May 16 (Photo: VNA)

With 15,133 points, Thanh surpassed world champion Carlos Edriel Yulo Poquiz from the Philippines in the parallel bar event.

Another Vietnamese gymnast, Le Thanh Tung, won a bronze medal in the event with 14,500 points.

In the horizontal bar event, Thanh shared the gold medal with his Philippine rival Carlos Edriel Yulo Poquiz with the same points of 13,867, while Tung secured another bronze in the category for Vietnam.

On the day, female gymnast Pham Nhu Phuong earned two bronze medals for the host country.