VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen Diep Phuong Tram of HCM City won four gold medals and broke two national records at the first day of the National Age Groups Swimming Tournament held in Phu Tho Club in HCM City yesterday, May 26.

Unbeatable: Nguyen Diep Phuong Tram broke two national records at the first day of the National Age Groups Swimming Tournament yesterday. — Photo tapchithethao.vn

The 15-year-old swimmer took part in four categories and finished first in all events.

In the girls aged 14-15’s 400m freestyle, Tram took the lead and won gold medal with a time of 4:28.85.

In the 100m butterfly, she also brought home a gold medal with a time of 1:02.88 and broke her own national record of 1:03.73, which she set last year.

Notably, in the 200m individual medley, Phuong won gold and broke the old record of 2:22.05 of Viet Nam’s top female swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien set in 2011 with a new time of 2:21.93.

Phuong’s last gold medal of the day was in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay event. She alongside her team mates Le Duong Ngoc Quyen, Vu Thi Phuong Anh and Tran Ngoc Thi triumphed with a time of 9:09.17. Long An team and National Defence Sports Centre 5 were the runners-up.

The first day also saw other 14 national records broken. Most of national record holders are from HCM City.

13-year-old swimmer Le Hoang Minh An set a new record in the boys aged 13 and under’s 50m breaststroke with a time of 32.77s, beating the old record of 32.96s. While Thi wrote her name in the girls aged 13 and under’s 400m freestyle event after clocking 4:37.95.

With Tram and her team mates’s effort, HCM City temporarily top the medal tally with 11 gold, seven silver and six bronz, followed by Quang Binh and National Defence Sports Centre 5.

After this tournament, Tram will leave for the US on June 5 to have a training session in Pleasanton Seahawks Swimming Club in California.

Tram is expected to be one of Viet Nam’s top female swimmers. Last year, she won nine gold medals in the national junior swimming event, broke two national records in the national senior event. She has also won nine gold medals and broken five records at the 2015 Southeast Asian Age Groups Swimming Championships.

Recently, she competed in, and won, 21 events in the National Short-Course Swimming Championships.

This year’s tournament will run until May 29.

VNS