Runner Quach Thi Lan on September 28 won her first silver medal for
Vietnam at the 17th Asian Games (ASIAD) in Incheon, the Republic of
Korea.
Lan, 18, who had just finished her training tour in the
United States, finished second in the women’s 400m event with a time of
52.06sec, a personal best in her career so far.
Oluwakemi Adekoya
of Bahrain took the gold medal with a time of 51.59sec while Machettira
Poovamma Raju of India took the bronze with a time of 52.36sec.
“I
am happy with the medal. I did not set any target before the
competition. I just tried my best. The Indian athlete is fast, but the
runner from Bahrain is even faster, and that surprised me,” said Lan.
“The training course in the US has helped me a lot as I have improved my physique and technique,” she added.
“Lan
did pretty well using my tactic of chasing the fastest athlete to push
up her speed. Her result is the best in her history after she overcame
her shortcomings through training. However, I’m not totally satisfied
because I wanted a gold medal for her,” said Lan’s coach, Nguyen Trong
Ho, adding: “She is young and she will harvest more titles in the
future.”
Lan’s teammate, Nguyen Thi Huyen, also competed in the event and finished seventh with a time of 53.79sec.
Unfortunately,
ASEAN sprint queen Vu Thi Huong failed to repeat her performance at the
Guangzhou Games four years ago, where she took a bronze medal.
Huong,
who assumed the task of winning a second gold medal for Vietnam in
Incheon on her shoulders, ranked fifth in the women’s 100m dash.
Her
slow start apparently affected her final result of 11.68sec as she
failed to catch up with other rivals and bowed out of the top three. Wei
Yongji of China took the gold medal with a time of 11.48sec, followed
by Fukushima Chisato of Japan with 11.49sec and Olga Safronova of
Kazakhstan with 11.50sec.
Huong will compete in the 200m event, where she won a bronze medal four years ago, on October 2.
Meanwhile,
boxer Luu Thi Duyen on September 28 won a semi-final berth in the
women’s lightweight category after beating Chorieva Mavzuna of
Tajikistan, 2-1. She will go up against Yin Junhua China.
Her
teammate, Le Thi Bang, followed up Duyen’s victory with a win in the
women’s flyweight category over Josie Gabuco of the Philippines, 3-0.
She will compete against Hmangte Chungneijang Mery Kom of India at the Seonhak Gymnasium on September 30.
Wrestler Pham Thi Loan trounced Lao Phinith Soumaly, 5-0, to advance to the semi-finals of the women’s free-style 55kg pool.
On
September 28, Vietnamese walker Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc was disqualified
from the women’s 20km walk after committing three technical errors only
6km from the starting line.
It was a lesson for the London Olympian, who previously won one silver and one bronze medal in Asian championships.
Earlier,
runner Nguyen Van Lai withdrew from the men’s 1,500m event so he could
focus on his strongest point, the 10,000m event, on October 2.
After
nine days, Vietnam maintained its 17th rank overall with one gold,
seven silver and 20 bronze medals. China have secured its hold of the
top spot with 105 gold medals while the Republic of Korea ranked a far
second with 42 gold medals, followed by Japan with 34.-VNA