Vietnam drowns out all other nations at the 26th SEA Games, Indonesia, 2011
It was impossible not to notice Vietnam’s competitively enhanced form in the 26th Southeast Asian Games, this November. The Vietnamese walked out of Ranau Gymnastics Hall with 19 medals to their claim.
The Southeast Asian Games, or the SEA Games as they are more popularly known, is a biennial international tournament spanning about 44 sports.
Apart from the host country Indonesia, six countries chose to participate in SEA Games gymnastics competitions, these were: Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The gymnastics competitions were held from November 11 to November 15.
This year’s competition was carefully scheduled to begin on November 11, with hopes of cashing on the 11/11/11 oddity for greater retention in everyone’s minds.
Additionally, the length of the competition (11 days) and the number of participating nations (also 11) is likely to give anyone an ‘11’ overdose.
The event was hosted by two cities conjointly, Palembang and Jakarta. Palembang chose to utilise Jaka Baring Sports Complex and the sports centre Gelora Sriwijaya Palembang, while in Jakarta the chosen venue was Bung Karno Main Stadium.
The women’s team from Vietnam came in sixth with a disappointing total score of 104.152. Singapore aced these finals with its team finishing in with a comfortable 189.002. Thai team won silver with 183.401.
The Vietnamese men’s team was at the opposite end of the performance spectrum, safely ahead of the silver and bronze winners, with its topping score of 339.250. Thailand came in second (335.150) and Indonesia came in third (329.700).
Both gold and silver for the women’s all-round went to Vietnamese athletes, Phan Thi Ha Thanh(53.217) and Do Thi Ngan Thuong (49.700), respectively. Singapore’s Lim Heem Wei was hot on Thuong’s heels with 49.484 points.
In the men’s all-round, Hoang Cuong (bronze) and Pham Phuoc Hung (silver) were separated by exactly 1.05 points, both belonging to Vietnam. Hung was bested by Thailand’s Rartchawat Kaewpan (87.400).
In the apparatus finals (women), Thanh earned two gold medals, for vault and floor exercise, and one bronze on the balance beam.
Thuong earned gold medals in balance beam and uneven bars. This way, Vietnam monopolized all of the first positions in the women’s apparatus finals.
On the men’s side Hoang(floor), Nam Dang(still rings), Tuan Dat Nguyen(vault) and Ha Thanh Nguyen (parallel bars) all secured the gold. Ha Thanh Nguyen also attained a bronze for his vault.
Phuoc Hung Pham, also of Vietnam, secured silver medals for his performances on the still rings, high bar and parallel bars.
Truong Minh Sang obtained a bronze in pommel horse, with Thailand’s Kaewpan coming in first and Singapore’s Gabriel Zi Jie Gan placing second.
Vietnam’s collective success boasted of 11 gold medals obtained in SEA Games this year – maybe 11 is a charm after all.
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