Karatedo martial artist Nguyen Hoang Ngan won a silver medal in the women's kata (performance) event at the ongoing Asian Games (ASIAD) in Incheon, South Korea yesterday.

Ngan, who is the Vietnamese queen of kata, lost to Shimizu Kiyou of Japan 5-0 in the final.

Earlier yesterday morning, Ngan, who won a gold medal at the Karate 1 Premier League in Turkey, last month, defeated Tamang Bimala of Nepal 5-0 in the semi-final.

Though Ngan has won a number of titles at various world tournaments, she has yet to win at ASIAD.

She underwent intense training in Japan in preparation for this year's games.

In addition to Ngan's silver, Vietnamese athletes brought home two more bronze medals in the taekwondo event.

Ha Thi Nguyen lost to Lee Wonjin of the hosts South Korea 5-2 in the semi-final match of the women's 67kg, while Pham Thi Thu Hien was defeated by South Korea's Lee Dabin 9-2 in the semi-final of women's 62kg category.

Nguyen beat Chan Yann Yeu of Chinese Taipei 6-5 and Hien beat Omar Mahmoud of Jordan 2-0 in the quarter-finals.

In other matches, Iran's Hassanipour Sefatadomi Saeid overcame Ho Dinh Thuan 10-2 in the quarter-finals of the men's 75kg, while Le Huynh Chau also lost to Thailand's Kitwijarn Akkarin 4-1 in the quarter-finals of the men's 63kg.

After 13 days of competition, Viet Nam rank 21st out of 33 nations in the medals table.

VNS/VNN