Vietnam added three more gold medals and jumped to third place overall yesterday in the ASEAN School Games in the Philippines.

The first two gold medals were earned in athletic events. Lo Thi Thanh won in the girls' 3,000m steeplechase event with a time of 10:36.83. Host athlete Yulianti Utari placed second, followed by Suneeka Prichaprong of Thailand.

Thanh's male teammate, Le Quang Hoa, likewise won in the men's version of the same event, leaving all rivals far behind with a time of 9:55.62. Devin Roy Vincent of Malaysia placed second with a time of 10:05.06, and teammate Asif Rahman Bin Jiyaudeen placed third with 10:15.93.

Vietnam won its third gold medal in the wushu men's taijiquan and taijijian all-round event courtesy of Nguyen Van Phuong, who scored 18 points, followed by Nicholas of Indonesia with 17.79 points and Benedict Khoo Kim Hoe of Singapore with 17.72 points.

Vietnam pocketed three gold medals on the third day of on December 2 .

Nguyen Van Mien, an 18-year-old student from Binh Phuoc Province, won the gold in the men's 5,000m walk with a time of 16.22 min.

Minutes later, Ha Thi Thu bagged her second gold medal in the women's 200m run.

She had won her first title on December 2 in the 100m event.

The athletics team also won a silver medal in the women's javelin and a bronze in the women's 400m events.

Coach Nguyen Manh Hung said that Vietnam lost their bid to win the javelin gold in the last attempt.

Lo Thi Hoa of Vietnam had topped the ranking table throughout the competition.

However, in the final throw, she conceded the lead to a Thai rival, and dropped to the second place.

Another gold medal went to the Vietnamese table tennis team. Nguyen Trung Kien and Le Dinh Duc overcame Thai rivals in the men's doubles final.

Le Van Duc and Vu Manh Duy took the bronze medal in the same event.

Vietnam also bagged two silver medals in wushu martial arts.

After four days of the competition, Vietnam are in third place in the overall tally, with 10 gold, six silver and five bronze medals.

Thailand and Malaysia are the top two teams.

VNS/VNN