The Vietnamese sporting delegation has grasped only one gold medal at the 17th Asian Games (ASIAD) in the Republic of Korea, coming up short on their set target of 2-3 gold medals.

The gold medalist was Duong Thuy Vi who earned 9.71 points in the women’s jianshu category and 9.70 points in changquan category to take the Wushu championship at the continent’s largest sporting event.

On the last day of competition on October 4, Karatedo athletes Tran Thi Khanh Vy and Nguyen Minh Phung were thrashed by stronger rivals from the host country.

It was an unsuccessful day for local sportsmen who secured 21st position on the Games’ medal tally with one gold, 10 silver and 25 bronze medals. This represented modest results of Vietnamese athletes who had pinned high hopes of clinching 2-3 gold medals to rank among the top 15-20.

Other countries in the Southeast Asian region achieved better results, such as Thailand (12 gold), Singapore and Malaysia (5 gold), Indonesia (4 gold), and Myanmar (2 gold), all placing above Vietnam.

Lam Quang Thanh, the head of the Vietnamese sport delegation to ASIAD 17, said the development of the sports sector depends much on investment and national development. Vietnamese athletes also had opportunities to attend overseas training courses, but the time was not long enough, he added.

Though Vietnamese sportsman missed chances to win more medals, they showed outstanding performances at basic Olympic events, such as swimming, track-and-field, and gymnastics.

In the coming time, it is essential to provide local athletes with more chances to train overseas to obtain higher results, Thanh noted.

VOV/VNN