Vietnam have taken one silver and one bronze medal in the technique category on the first day of the 2017 Asian Petanque Championships which is taking place in Thailand’s capital of Bangkok on December 10-11.

Player Nguyen Thi Thi competes for the women’s technique category at the 2017 Asian Petanque Championships. (Credit: hanoimoi.com.vn) 

In the men’s technique event, Huynh Cong Tam lost 31-43 to his rival from the host country, Sarawut Sriboonpeng, in the final match to earn the third silver of his career.

In the women’s technique category, Vietnam’s leading player Nguyen Thi Thi failed to get through to the final match after suffering a bitter 34-36 defeat to Thailand’s Phantipha Wongchuvej in the semi-finals.

Also on the evening of December 10, the Vietnamese women’s team won 13-2 over Chinese Taipei, while Vietnam’s youth team secured a 13-8 victory over Malaysia’s youth team in the quarterfinals of the triple category. Therefore, Vietnam will certainly bring home at least two bronze medals at this year’s tournament.

At the opening ceremony for the Championships, President of the Asian Petanque Confederation Mohamad Noor Abdul Rahim officially announced that petanque will not be included in the 2018 ASIAD as expected.

He also emphasised that the Confederation will continue to lobby for petanque’s inclusion in the list of games at the 2022 ASIAD in China.

On the occasion, President of the International Petanque Confederation Claude Aze’ma said that the necessary procedures were prepared for petanque’s appearance at the 2024 Olympics in France as a performance event.

Nhan Dan