Vietnamese gymnasts crowned gold medallists at Szombathely World Cup

Vietnamese gymnasts scored resounding victories at the Szombathely World Challenge Cup 2016 in Hungary on October 9 securing two gold medals in the men’s vault and parallel bars disciplines, and one bronze in the men’s rings event.

Nguyen Tuan Dat (centre) wins the men's vault gold medal.
Nguyen Tuan Dat (centre) wins the men's vault gold medal.

Nguyen Tuan Dat topped the vault competition with 14,899 points in the finals, after ranking second in the preliminary round with 14,750 points, behind Polish Lukasz Borkowski with 14,775.

Tuan Dat, born in 1991, was the first Vietnamese gymnast to have a skill named after him by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG). At the 2013 World Championships, Dat and Kenzo Shirai of Japan successfully performed a quadruple full twist on the floor which was then named as the “Shirai-Nguyen” skill.

Another Vietnamese gymnast Le Thanh Tung failed to make the overall podium despite qualifying for the finals of the same event.

Dinh Phuong Thanh dominated on the parallel bars, winning both the preliminary round and the finals with 15,300 and 15,500 points respectively.

Vietnam’s only bronze medal went to Dang Nam on the rings with 15,033 points, behind China’s Zhang Yunlong and Egypt’s Zahran Ali.