SEA Games

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese martial artists won three gold medals in the combat category of pencak silat at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Malaysia yesterday.

Nguyễn Duy Tuyến defeated Nur Alfian Juma’en of Singapore 5-0 to triumph in the men’s 80kg category final, although Tuyến needed medical assistance.

“I didn’t perform with all my strength in this game. However, I am satisfied with this achievement,"  said Tuyến.

Nguyễn Văn Trí beat Muhammad Shakir of Singapore 5-0 to bring home his gold medal in the men’s 90kg.

Earlier, Phạm Thị Tươi won the first title for the Vietnamese pencak silat team in the women’s 50kg category.

Tươi defeated Singapore’s Atiq Syazwani Binte Roslan 5-0 in the final match.

“I am very happy to win the gold medal at the SEA Games, which I took part in for the first time,” said Tươi.

The 21-year-old Tươi began training pencak silat since 2010 in the the northern port city of Hải Phòng before beginning to practice with the national team.

“When I knew that I was named to the list of those taking part in the Games, I was very glad and flattered. I had trained very hard during past months to gain this result,” said Tươi.

“People often pay attention to other martial arts such as taekwondo and karate, and don’t notice pencak silat. So I was curious to train pencak silat to experience it. Since then I see it is very interesting and I want to pursue it,” Tươi added.

Vietnamese Phạm Thị Tươi (right) brings home a gold in the women’s pencak silat 50kg class in SEA Games yesterday. Tươi beats Atiq Syazwami of Indonesia in the final. — VNA/VNS Photo Quốc Khánh

After the exceptional performances by Tuyến, Trí and Tươi, other Vietnamese pencak silat competitors could not overcome their opponents in their final matches and had to settle for silver medals.

Nguyễn Đình Tuấn lost 0-5 to Malaysia’s Faizul Nasir, in the men’s 55kg discipline, while Trần Thị Thêm fell to a 1-4 defeat at the hands of a strong Indonesian competitor Wewey Wita in the women’s 55kg final.

Other silver medalists in pencak silat were Nguyễn Thái Linh in the men’s 60kg, Phạm Tuấn Anh in the men’s 70kg, Trần Đình Nam in the men’s 75kg, Lê Sĩ Kiên in the men’s 85kg and Nguyễn Thị Thúy in the performance division.

With regards to the mixed synchro 3m springboard event, Vietnamese pair Vũ Anh Duy and Ngô Phương Mai completed their performance with 234.45 points. The score earned them a bronze medal, considered a surprise as diving is not a favoured sport of the Việt Nam contingent.

In the final weightlifting match for the men’s 69kg, Phạm Tuấn Anh bagged a bronze medal with a total lift of 306kg. The 22-year-old lifted 135kg in snatch and 171kg in clean and jerk.

Indonesia’s Deni Deni took the gold medal with a total lift of 312kg, while Trirat Boonsuk of Thailand won the silver with 310kg.

In the men’s 77kg, Nguyễn Hồng Ngọc won a silver medal with a total lift of 307kg.

The gold medal went to I Ketut Ariana of Indonesia with 325kg and the bronze medal came to Loro Wellkinson Peuji of the hosts with 295kg.

“It is my fifth Games. I participated in the first Games in 2007 at the age of 17 and won a bronze medal. I failed in the tournament in 2009 and 2011. In the Games held in 2013, I took a silver medal. In the Games two years ago, weightlifting wasn’t played. Today I had the chance to gain a gold medal but my rivals were outstanding,” said 27-year-old Ngọc.

 “I reached to the total lift of 325kg in training. But today, I couldn’t do it because I haven’t completely recovered from my knee injury. I regretted that I couldn’t change the medal colour,” Ngọc added. — VNS