VietNamNet Bridge – Pencak Silat athletes contributed a half of the 12 gold medals of Vietnam on November 17. With only two more golds, Vietnam will achieve its goal.
Fourteen years ago, the Vietnamese Pencak Silat team made an exploit: earning seven gold medals for combat event on the last competition day to rank first, exceeding the host country – Indonesia – which is also the home of Pencak Silat.

Returning to Indonesia this year, the Pencak Silat of Vietnam aimed to win three gold medals. However, Vietnamese athletes took up to six of seven gold medals for this sport on November 17, including the golds of Tran Thi Luyen, Le Dang Minh, Vo Duy Phuong, Tran Van Toan, Nguyen Huong Xuan, Nguyen Thi Yen.
Besides Pencak Silat, wrestling, fencing, rowing and swimming brought about six more golds, including: swimmer Chau Ba Anh Tu with a gold for men’s 5,000m event; rowers Tien Huy and Thanh Binh with a gold for men’s double event; wrestlers Ha Van Hieu, Can Tat Du and Bui Anh Tuan with gold medals for men’s 120kg, under 74 and under 66kg categories; fencers Nguyen Thanh Van, Nguyen Thu Hien and Tran Thi Len with a gold for women’s team.

The wrestling team completed their competition at the SEA Games 2011, with eight gold medals, ranking first.
Six gold medals on November 17 helped Vietnam to approach its set target of 70 goals and strengthened Vietnam’s second position on the medal tally, with 68 gold, 64 silver and 69 bronze.

Indonesia was still on the top, with 98 gold, 74 silver and 73 bronze, while Thailand ranked third with 61 gold, 54 silver and 66 bronze.

Thanh Tung