Athletics

HÀ NỘI — Three-time 29th Southeast Asian Games winner Nguyễn Thị Huyền helped her Nam Định Province take the lead after the first day of the National Athletics Championships in HCM City yesterday.

Huyền faced no difficulty in winning the women’s 400m hurdle event. She finished first with a time of 59.50sec. The result was not as good as the record of 56.06sec that she set up at the Malaysian Games in August. But it was enough to bring her a gold medal.

The victory was easier for Huyền, as the defending champion Quách Thị Lan from Thanh Hóa Province, who had stolen the crown from Huyền in the national tournament in 2015, could not compete because of injury.

Coming second yesterday was Lê Thị Hồng Hân from Vĩnh Long with Yên Bái runner Bùi Thị Kim Thoa at third.

The second gold of Nam Định went to the 4x800m crew who crossed the line after 8min 59.69sec.

Hà Nội and Ninh Bình came second and third, respectively.

Huyền, who won a title from the recent Asian championship, is going to compete in the 400m and 4x400m events in the next days.

The second position in the medal tally went to HCM City who grabbed one gold, three silvers and three bronzes.

The ‘so-called’ SEA Games’ new sprint queen Lê Tú Chinh defended her title in the women’s 100m category. HCM City gave no chance to other team as their runners occupied all positions in the top three.

The 20-year-old dominated the track with 11.55sec. She was followed by teammates Lê Thị Mộng Tuyền and Hà Thị Thu.

Chinh is expected to bring more golds for the hosts as she has registered to run in the 200m, 4x100m and 4x200m disciplines.

Chinh won three golds in the 29th SEA Games in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m events.

Hà Nội, Vĩnh Long and the Military shared the third place as their representatives secured one gold and one silver in the first day.

Hanoian Bùi Thị Thu Thảo created a bang at the stadium.

Thảo’s major is long jump but she overcame SEA Games winner Vũ Thị Mến to take the first title in the triple jump event with a result of 13.68m.

Mến tried her best but finished second on 13.33m, much worse than her result of 14.15m that brought her the SEA Games gold two month ago.

Trần Thị Huệ Hoa of HCM City who has trained in triple jump for years, much more than Thảo, came third, with only 13.22m.

“Unbelievable! I cannot believe that I could jump so far. I am really happy with that,” said Thảo who took part in this event for the first time.

She hoped people would continue to encourage her in the long jump and 4x100m on Thursday.

The national championship is from October 23 to October 27 with most of events organised at the Thống Nhất Stadium. Nearly 500 athletes from 51 cities and provinces are to compete in 48 events.

Last year, Thanh Hóa topped the ranking with nine titles. The Military finished second with seven and Hà Nội were behind with six.

Three records were set up in the women’s marathon by Hoàng Thị Thanh of Military, men’s hammer throw by Tăng Thanh Hải from Vĩnh Long and women’s discus throw by Nguyễn Thị Hồng Thương, also from Vĩnh Long. — VNS