Vien completed the 400m freestyle race in a time of 4:13.20, beating Gan Ching Hwee (Singapore) by 1.36 seconds and 4.39 seconds faster than the bronze medalist Junkrajang Natthanan (Thailand).
Nearly one hour later, the 23-year-old athlete continued to affirm her dominance in Southeast Asia’s women’s swimming by winning the 100m backstroke final with a time of 1:02.97, 0.88 seconds clear of the runner-up of the Philippines.
This is the eighth title that Vietnamese swimming has won thus far in the Philippines, following three by Anh Vien (200m backstroke, 200m freestyle, 200m individual medley), two by Nguyen Huy Hoang (men’s 1,500m freestyle, men’s 400m freestyle) and one by Tran Hung Nguyen (men’s 200m individual medley).
In addition to swimming, the table tennis, judo and taekwondo teams brought home four additional gold medals for the Vietnam sports delegation on Saturday.
Table tennis duo Nguyen Anh Tu and Doan Ba Tuan Anh brilliantly defeated young Singaporean players Josh Chua and Yew Pang 3-1 in the men’s doubles final, thus putting an end to Singapore’s three-year reign in the discipline. This is the second time Vietnamese table tennis has clinched the men’s doubles gold medal at the SEA Games arena, following the triumph of Doan Kien Quoc and Dinh Quang Linh in 2009.
Taekwondo artists Nguyen Ngoc Minh Hy, Chau Tuyet Van, Hua Van Huy, Nguyen Thi Le Kim, and Tran Ho Duy won the highest score in the mixed team freestyle poomsae event with 7.799 points, 0.933 points clear of the Philippine silver medalists (6.866 points). Meanwhile, Nguyen Thi Mong Quynh was crowned champion in the women’s freestyle poomsae individual discipline with 7.433 points.
Vietnam’s Judo fighters Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, Nguyen Ngoc Diem Phuong and Ho Thi Nhu Van edged out their Indonesian opponents 3-1 in the women’s team final on Saturday to smash home another gold medal.
Vietnam’s Olympic champion Hoang Xuan Vinh did not live up to expectations settling for a silver in his favourite 10m air pistol event with 239.6 points, just 0.9 points behind the Thai gold medalist Kulchairattana Pongpol.
Vietnam’s no. 1 sprinter Le Tu Chinh failed to defend her 200m title, finishing second with a time of 23.45 seconds. The gold medal belonged to Knott Kristina Marie of the Philippines who broke the SEA Games record with a time of 23.01 seconds.
Vietnam won six more silvers in judo (men’s team), karatedo (women’s 50kg kumite, women’s individual kata), rowing (women’s lightweight double sculls), taekwondo (men’s freestyle poomsae individual) and swimming (men’s 200m breaststroke), alongside six bronze medals in canoe (men’s singles 200m), rowing (men’s pair), shooting (men’s 10m air pistol), karatedo (men’s 55kg kumite), fencing (women’s team epee) and swimming (men’s 200m freestyle).
As of 6pm today, Vietnam maintained their third-placed in the 2019 SEA Games medal table with 43 golds, behind the Philippines (81) and Indonesia (47).
