Le Van Cong won Vietnam's first gold medal in the Asian Para-Games in Incheon, in the Republic of Korea on October 19.

Cong lifted 181.5 points in the men's 49kg powerlifting event held at the Moonlight Festival Garden. Cong set a Games record, beating a 181kg lift record made six months ago by Nigerian Yakubu Adesokan during the world tournament in Dubai.

Radhi Mustafa Salman Radhi of Iraq came in second, lifting 168kg, while Indian Farman Basha came in third with 155kg.

In the women's 41kg, Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Hong placed fourth with a result of 81kg.

The swimmers pocketed one gold, five silvers and one bronze during the first day of official competitions.

The gold went to Nguyen Thanh Trung in the men's SB4 100m breaststroke. Trung had no trouble taking the lead from the beginning. He completed the race with a time of 1min 59.37sec.

Host Park Jongman claimed a silver while Thai swimmer KaewKhom Voravit earned a bronze.

Trinh Thi Bich Nhu later earned Vietnam's first silver in the women's SB5 200m breaststroke event on the same day.

Nhu finished with a time of 1:57.57, right behind Chinese winner Song Lingling, who topped the podium with 1:51.41. Yuri Kitamura of Japan got the bronze with 2:12.95.

Nhu's teammate Du Thi Lan came in fourth with 2:13.55.

In the men's S5 200m freestyle, Vo Thanh Tung took a second silver for Vietnam with a time of 3:02.24.

He was defeated by Myanmar's Aung Myint Myat, who swam the race in 2:54.99.

Le Tien Dat nabbed a silver in the men's SB6 100m breaststroke, and Do Thanh Hai won one in the men's SB5 100m breaststroke.

Last night, quartet Hai, Trung, Tung and Ha Van Hiep took a fifth silver in the men's 20P 4x50m relay freestyle. Thailand claimed a gold while the Republic of Korea grabbed a bronze.

Vo Huynh Anh Khoa won the team's only bronze in the men's S9 50m freestyle.

Defending badminton champion Pham Duc Trung advanced to the next round of the men's singles SL3.

He beat Meepian Subpong of Thailand 21-8, 21-10 in the Preliminary Round Group A.

His teammate Truong Ngoc Binh also won two games in the men's singles WH category, group C.

He beat Chan Ho Yuen of Hong Kong 21-18, 17-21, 21-16 and went on to trounce Junthong Dumnern of Thailand 21-10, 21-17 in the second match.

Track-and-field athletes also began their competitions on October 19, but did not breach the top three yet.

China came out on top of the ranking table with 28 golds after the first day.

Japan has taken 11 for the second position. Host the Republic of Korea has two less, coming in at third.

Vietnam was ranked seventh.

VNS/VNN