After collecting two bronze medals on the opening day, Vietnamese athletes competed across a packed program on September 21, including shooting, swimming, boxing, karate, artistic gymnastics, wushu, women’s volleyball and women’s football.

Dieu Ly produced the standout result of the day in karate, defeating Japan’s Kama Tsubasa in the women’s 68kg kumite bronze-medal bout.

The two fighters were tied 4-4 at the end of regulation time, but Dieu Ly was awarded the victory under the Senshu rule because she had scored the first point of the bout.

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Nguyen Thi Dieu Ly won Vietnam’s only medal on the second day of competition at the 2026 Asian Games, taking bronze in the women’s 68kg kumite. Photo: Tam Ninh

The result gave Vietnam its third bronze medal of the Games. The first two came on September 20 through Nguyen Hoang Minh Tan and Trinh Gia Nghi in mixed doubles teqball and Bui Ngoc Nhi in women’s individual kata.

Vietnam came close to another medal in swimming.

The men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team of Nguyen Huy Hoang, Tran Hung Nguyen, Nguyen Viet Tuong and Tran Van Nguyen Quoc finished fourth in the final in 7 minutes 18.09 seconds, narrowly missing the podium.

Earlier, the quartet had qualified for the final with the fourth-fastest overall time after clocking 7:21.62 in the heats.

Vo Thi My Tien also reached the women’s 200m individual medley final after recording 2:17.03 in qualifying. She later finished ninth in the 10-swimmer final.

China’s 13-year-old Yu Zidi won the event and set a new Asian Games record.

Pham Thanh Bao missed the men’s 100m breaststroke final after finishing 11th overall in qualifying. He clocked 1:00.85 to place third in his heat.

Vietnam also secured several places in the artistic gymnastics finals.

The men’s team advanced to the team final, while Dang Ngoc Xuan Thien qualified on pommel horse, Nguyen Van Khanh Phong on still rings and Trinh Hai Khang on vault.

In wushu, Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy defeated Kazakhstan’s Shossova Alina 2-0 in the women’s 60kg sanda competition to advance to the quarterfinals.

Nguyen Trong Lam finished sixth overall in the men’s tai chi event, while Nguyen Thi Hien placed 14th among 16 competitors in the women’s changquan final with 9.573 points.

Hong Kong’s Sham Hui Yu Lydia won the changquan gold with 9.713 points.

There was disappointment elsewhere in karate as Khuat Hai Nam lost his men’s 67kg kumite bronze-medal bout against an opponent from Chinese Taipei.

Pham Minh Duc, meanwhile, defeated Cambodia’s Theng Kimchhea 3-2 in the round of 16 of the men’s individual kata competition.

Vietnam was unable to reach the men’s individual air rifle final in shooting.

Phung Viet Dung was the country’s highest-ranked shooter in qualifying, finishing 15th with 627 points. Vietnam placed eighth in the team standings with 1,870.9 points, while China won gold with a world-record total of 1,899.

In boxing, Nguyen Duc Ngoc was eliminated from the men’s 70kg competition after losing 5-0 to Qatar’s Mohammed Lassaad Dbichi in the preliminary round.

Vietnam ended September 21 with three bronze medals overall and several opportunities still ahead, particularly after the men’s artistic gymnastics team secured multiple places in the finals.

Dai Nam