Vietnam enjoyed a flurry of gold medal on June 6 – the first official competition day of the 28th SEA Games – with nine won in swimming, gymnastics, racewalking, fencing, judo and petanque, as well as three new records established.

Nguyen Thi Anh Vien took the spotlight on Saturday as she brilliantly brought in two gold medals and broke two Games records in the women’s 800m freestyle (8:34.85) and the 400m individual medley event (4:42.88).

The remaining record was set in the men’s 200m freestyle by swimmer Hoang Quy Phuoc, who finished first with a final time of 1:48.96.

Fencers continued their brilliant form today winning two additional gold medals in the men’s team epee and sabre events, pushing the Vietnam fencing team’s gold-medal count in this year’s SEA Games to six.

The athletics team also made a successful start to the Games with female racewalker Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc conquering the 20km distance with the fastest time of 1:45:20. It was also Phuc’s third consecutive 20km title over the past three SEA Games.

The remaining three gold medals went to the men’s gymnastics team, judo artist Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy in the women’s 52kg category and petanque player Nguyen Thi Thi in the women’s shooting event.

Two silver medals were added to Vietnam’s tally on Saturday, one by Vo Xuan Vinh in the men’s 20km walk and the other in the women’s team foil discipline.

Vietnam also secured an additional six bronze medals thanks to Tran Duy Khoi (swimming, men’s 100m backstroke), Phan Thi Bich Ha (athletics, women’s 20km walk), Bui Minh Quan (judo, men’s 73-81kg), Nguyen Thi Thanh Tram (judo, women’s 52-57kg), Tran Xuan Hiep (wushu, men’s optional changquan) and the men’s 10m air rifle team (shooting).

As of 10.30pm today, Vietnam stood at second place in the SEA Games medal standings with 13 gold, three silver and 11 bronze medals – three golds more than Thailand and four behind the leader Singapore.