The delegation of Vietnamese athletes with disabilities secured the third position on the medal standings and set new records at the 12th ASEAN Para Games that took place in Cambodia from June 3-9.
At the Games, Vietnamese athletes won 66 gold medals, 59 silvers, and 78 bronzes, following Indonesia with 153 golds, and Thailand with 123 golds.
These are encouraging results, said Deputy General Director of the Vietnam Sports Administration Nguyen Hong Minh, head of the Vietnamese delegation to the 12th ASEAN Para Games, explaining that before the Games started, Vietnam had targeted only 50 - 55 gold medals and a place in the top four in the standings.
The results at this year’s Games are also the best earned by disabled athletes of Vietnam at an ASEAN Para Games organised outside the country so far.
At ASEAN Para Games 12, Vietnam had gained particularly outstanding achievements in swimming, athletics, and weightlifting with 28, 20, and 10 gold medals, respectively. Vietnamese swimmers have had the best performance an ASEAN Para Games. As many as 15 out of 17 records that Vietnamese athletes made at this Games belonged to swimmers while the two others were by weightlifters.
Male swimmer Danh Hoa showed the most impressive performance, bagging six golds and breaking three records in the men’s 200m freestyle S4 category, 50m breaststroke SB3 category, and 100m freestyle S4 category with timing of 2 minutes 26 seconds, 49.33 seconds and 1 minute 36.23 seconds, respectively.
Meanwhile, female swimmer Trinh Thi Bich Nhu won five gold medals and set three new records in 100m freestyle S6 category, 50m butterfly swimming S6 category, and 100 m breaststroke SB5 category clocking 1 minute 23.77 seconds, 41.50 seconds, and 1 minute 51.77 seconds, respectively.
Vi Thi Hang is also another prominent name when she won four gold medals and broke three new records in the women's 400m freestyle S7 category (6 minutes 57.95 seconds), the women's 50m freestyle S7 category (36.46 seconds), and 100m breaststroke SB6 category (1 minute 51.41 seconds).
Other new swimming records have been made by Le Tien Dat (men's 100m breaststroke SB5 category with 1 minute 33.69 seconds), Pham Thanh Dat (50m butterfly S8-SB7 category with 30.25 seconds), Do Thanh Hai (50m breaststroke SB5 category with 41.86 seconds), Nguyen Hoang Nha (100m backstroke S7 category with 1 minute 15.56 seconds), Vo Huynh Anh Khoa (100m backstroke S8 category with 1 minute 14.46 seconds) and Nguyen Thanh Trung (50m backstroke S4 category with 45.59 seconds).
Meanwhile, in the women's weightlifting event under 50kg, athlete Dang Thi Linh Phuong set a new record after conquering the weight of 102kg.
Additionally, another record maker was Chau Hoang Tuyet Loan who successfully conquered the weight of 105kg./.