Việt Nam wins its first medals of SEA Games 31

Vietnamese athletes won silver and bronze medals at the SEA Games 31 on Sunday.

The first two medals for the Việt Nam delegation came from diving.

Vietnamese pair Nguyễn Tùng Dương and Phương Thế Anh finished second in the men’s synchronised 3m springboard with 263.34 points. Malaysian duo Chew Yi Wei and Ooi Tze Liang finished first with 394.77 points.

After Singapore withdrew at the last minute, the event was only between Việt Nam and Malaysia.

“It is silver but I am pretty disappointed that we take it this way. We did not have the opportunity to compete,” said Anh about the men’s synchronised 3m springboard medal.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese Ngô Phương Mai won bronze with 224 points in the women’s individual 1m springboard. Malaysian diver Nur Dhabitah Sabri took gold with 290 points, while Kimberly Qian Ping Bong, also from Malaysia, took silver with 230 points.

“It is my first SEA Games medal on home turf. It is really valuable for me,” Mai said.

“My Malaysian rivals are strong. They have taken part in international tournaments year-round while my teammates and I only have one or two events per year. It is difficult to vie against them.

“Diving on home turf made me a little nervous. I think if I have better preparation and did my jumps better I would have gotten a higher result.”

This was Mai's fourth bronze SEA Games medal. At all three of her previous Games, she came third.

Việt Nam divers completed their tournament target of one silver and one bronze on the first day, raising hopes that they will do better than expected as there are still three more days of events to come.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese kickboxers also had a good start in Bắc Ninh Gymnasium.

Nguyễn Thị Hằng Nga started her journey of defending her title at the Games 31 with a 3-0 victory over Teo Vireen of Malaysia in the quarter-finals of the women’s 48kg full contact category.

At the Games 30 held in the Philippines in 2019, Nga beat Dacquel D. Renalyn of the hosts to take the title. This was also the only female kickboxing championship of Việt Nam in the Games 30.

Nga's path to martial arts was almost accidental - at secondary school, she loved volleyball. However, because her school did not organise volleyball training classes, she had to choose a martial art. Since then she has made a name for herself in the domestic and international events.

Meanwhile, Bùi Hải Linh bested Nao Srey Pov of Cambodia 2-1 in the women’s 52kg low kick and Nguyễn Thế Hưởng also defeated Nehyeban Carlos Alvarez of the Philippines 3-0 in the men’s 67kg full contact.

However, in the quarter-finals of the men’s 57kg full contact category, SEA Games defending champions Nguyễn Xuân Phương lost to Arunno Sivapan of Thailand 1-2.

In other news on Sunday, Việt Nam beat Thailand 2-1 in the qualifying round of the men’s beach handball.