Vietnam won a total of 161 medals, including 40 gold, standing fourth in the medal tally after seven competition days of the ninth ASEAN Para Games in Malaysia.

Swimmer Vo Thanh Tung at the ninth ASEAN Para Games in Malaysia

The Vietnamese delegation of 142 athletes with disability vied for medals in eight events, including swimming, track-and-field, weightlifting, chess, badminton, boccia, football for the visually-impaired and table tennis.

Besides the golds, the Vietnamese team brought home 61 silver and 60 bronze medals.

The number of Vietnamese athletes was only 42.5 percent of that of the Malaysian team, 72 percent of the Indonesian team and 48 percent of the Thai team. 

Although the country only participated in half out of a total of 16 events, its athletes broke 11 Games’ records. Notably, Vo Thanh Tung broke three records and Trinh Thu Bich Nhu set two new ones, all in swimming. 

The gold medals mainly came in athletics and swimming, with 17 and 15 medals, respectively. It means Vietnam is on the right track in training its athletes for Paralympic events.

All athletes have shown their willpower and overcome challenges, said Nguyen Ngoc Anh, head of the Vietnamese team at the competition.

The ASEAN Para Games is a biannual multi-sport event held after every Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) for ASEAN athletes with physical disabilities.

The ASEAN Para Games 2017, which will last until September 23, has seen the participation of all 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, along with Timor Leste.

VNA