SEA Games wrap up with Vietnam second
By Vu Duc - The Saigon Times Daily
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| Sprinter Vu Thi Huong (C) comes back home from Laos after taking two golds and a silver at the 25th SEA Games - Photo: TTXVN |
HCMC - The 25th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in Laos closed over the weekend after ten days of competition with 69 new records set. Leaders Thailand won 86 golds out of 372, just three clear of second-placed Vietnam and double third-positioned Indonesia’s tally of gold medals.
Thailand also earned 83 silvers and 97 bronzes. The Thais swept the gold medals in sepak takraw, athletics, shooting, petanque and martial arts. 
However, Thailand failed to hit 100 golds as they had expected.
Two years ago, then-hosts Thailand dominated the medals standings with 183 golds out of a total of 477, well ahead of second-placed Malaysia’s 68 and Vietnam’s 64.
The Vietnamese sporting delegation surpassed their goal at the Games when they clinched 83 golds, 75 silvers and 57 bronzes. The country aimed to win 65-70 gold medals. Vietnam dominated in shooting, athletics, fin swimming, shuttle cock and martial arts events.
Indonesia was third with 43 golds, 53 silvers and 74 bronzes. Host Laos ended the successful Games after beating their pre-Games target of 25 golds, ending up with 33, the same number as Singapore. In 2007 they managed just five golds.
Following the top three countries in order are Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Brunei and East Timor.
The Vietnamese shooters showed their excellent performance at the Games when they brought home the largest number of gold medals, 11. Meanwhile, fin swimming took home eight golds. Track and field, wushu, wrestling and Judo earned seven golds each for the Vietnamese sporting delegation.
Ngo Huu Vuong was the most successful athlete as he snatched four golds in the shooting event followed by sprinter Vu Thi Huong and medium-distance runners Truong Thanh Hang and Nguyen Dinh Cuong, each having two golds in track and field.
Vietnamese athletes set 12 regional records in the Games. Nguyen Huu Viet set two new records in the swimming event. Viet broke the record in the men’s 200m breaststroke event with a 2’’15’25 and the men’s 100m breaststroke event with a 1’’02’60, beating the old records set by Elvin Chia from Malaysia.
In fin swimming, the Vietnamese swimmers broke seven records at the Games. The records went to Nguyen Thi Quynh in the women’s 200m surface, Chu Thi Minh Thuy also in the women’s 200m surface, Tran Bao Thu in the men’s 400m surface, Phan Luu Cam Thanh in men’s 50m surface, Nguyen Trung Kien in the men’s 100m surface and Duong Huyen Trang in the women’s 100m surface and 4x100m surface events.
Ngo Huu Vuong, Nguyen Van Tung and Do Duc Hung broke the SEA Games record in the men’s ten meter running target mixed team event while Dang Hong Ha, Cu Thi Thanh Tu and Nguyen Thi Le Quyen did the same in the women’s 10 meter running target mixed team event.
Meanwhile, Vu Van Huyen, another hopeful of Vietnam, showed excellent performance when he gained his third consecutive gold at the SEA Games in the men’s decathlon event. Huyen also set a new Games record of 7,558 points. The old record was 7,457 at the previous SEA Games.
In football, the Vietnamese women secured the gold after winning 3-0 over Thailand in a penalty shootout in the final game while the U-23 men’s squad failed to break the SEA Games gold jinx after losing 0-1 to Malaysia in the final.
Malaysia ended their 20-year wait for a SEA Games gold medal. The country last won the SEA Games football trophy in 1989 in Kuala Lumpur when Singapore were the defeated finalists.
Vietnam earned no gold in sepak takraw or volleyball, the sport where the country always sees fierce competition from Myanmar and Thailand. In the end, the Vietnamese athletes won four silvers in sepak takraw and one silver in the women’s volleyball event.
The 25th SEA Games drew more than 4,000 athletes, coaches and officials from 11 countries. The 2009 Games featuring 28 sports and offering a total of 379 gold medals took place in Vientiane, Laos from December 9 to 18.
Along with the Olympic disciplines, the sports include regional favorite sepaktakraw, martial arts pencak-silat and muay Thai as well as the French game petanque.
Some 434 athletes, coaches, referees and officials participated among the Vietnamese delegation at Southeast Asia’s biggest sporting event. The Vietnamese athletes competed in 25 sporting events.
The 26th SEA Games are expected to be organized in Indonesia in 2011.