Kurash fighters blast a poker of gold medals for Vietnam

The kurash team brought home four additional gold medals on December 2 to help the Vietnam sports delegation retain second place in the SEA Games 2019 medal tally with 14 golds (as of 5.30pm).

Vietnamese kurash fighter Vu Ngoc Son celebrates after beating his Philippine opponent Catipon Lloyd Dennis in the men's -73kg final. (Photo: Vnexpress)
Vietnamese kurash fighter Vu Ngoc Son celebrates after beating his Philippine opponent Catipon Lloyd Dennis in the men's -73kg final. (Photo: Vnexpress)

Le Duc Dong clinched Vietnam’s first gold of the day after beating his Philippine opponent Llamas Al Rolan in the men’s 66kg final.

Inspired by Dong’s triumph, Vietnamese kurash artists went on to perform brilliantly and racked up three more titles thanks to Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy in the women’s +70kg event, Vu Ngoc Son in the men’s -73kg category, and Bui Minh Quan in the men’s 81kg division.

After sweeping three gold and two silver medals on December 1, the arnis team continued to have a fruitful day of competition today blasting five silvers owing to Vuong Thanh Tung (men’s +65kg), Nguyen Duc Tri (men’s 60kg), Van Cong Quoc (men’s 55kg and less), Nguyen Thi Huong (women’s 50kg and less), and Nguyen Thi Cuc (women’s 60kg and less).

Vietnam’s golden hope, weightlifter Thach Kim Tuan, did not live up to expectation as he only settled for second place in the men’s 61kg with a total lift of 304kg, 5kg fewer than the Indonesia champion Eko Yuli Irawan.

Vietnamese weightlifter Thach Kim Tuan drops the gold medal in the men's 61kg category. (Photo: Vnexpress)

Tuan’s teammate, Nguyen Thi Thuy, also managed to win a silver medal in the women’s 55kg category with a total lift of 197kg.

Nguyen Thi Phuong Trinh took the women’s duathlon bronze medal on Vietnam’s SEA Games debut in the event.

Vietnam also won six additional bronzes in basketball (1), arnis (3), wushu (1) and weightlifting (1).

In the women’s football event, Thailand defeated Indonesia 5-1 in their last Group B clash, thus gifting the group’s top spot to the Vietnamese team who have a better goal difference.