HÀ NỘI — Trần Hưng Nguyên helped the National Defence Sports Centre 5 retain their lead in the National Junior Swimming Championship held at Mỹ Đình National Sports Complex in Hà Nội yesterday.

Nguyên bagged three out of four gold medals for his team.

He took gold in the boys’ 50m freestyle aged 14-15 with a time of 24.87secs, breaking the national record of 24.89secs set by Hoàng Quý Phước of Đà Nẵng in 2008.

Võ Dư Trương of the National Defence Sports Centre 4 and Nguyễn Hà Khang of Vĩnh Long took silver and bronze in this category.

Nguyên took home another gold in the boys’ 200m breaststroke in 2:29.38. Cao Văn Dũng of Hà Nội and Trần Đình Tân of Đà Nẵng were the runners-up.

Nguyên’s final triumph was in the 1,500m freestyle, beating Võ Minh Khang of Long An and Trương of the Centre 4 in a time of 16:45.53.

In the girls’ 50m backstroke aged 11 and under, Nguyễn Thị Mỹ Xuyên of Centre 4 triumphed in 34.48secs. Đặng Ái Mỹ of An Giang and Lê Thu Thủy of Đồng Nai took silver and bronze.

Xuyên broke her own record of 35.40secs which she set at the same event last year.

In the girls’ 50 backstroke aged 12-13, Đoàn Gia Khánh of Tây Ninh seized a gold medal after clocking a time of 33.22secs, followed by Vương Thị Thu Phương of Hà Nội and Nguyễn Vy Anh of HCM City.

After four days of competition, Centre 5 leads with 20 golds, 10 silvers and five bronzes.  Centre 4 are second with 16 golds, 11 silvers and six bronzes, with Long An third with 13 golds, 10 silvers and six bronzes.

The tournament ends today. — VNS