Việt Nam vs Honduras in the FIFA U20 World Cup in South Korea. — VNA/VNS Photo Minh Tiến

1. Việt Nam U20s qualify for their first U20 World Cup, held this year in Cheonan, South Korea. Việt Nam was the third South East Asia country to make an appearance in this tournament and the first to win a point after a goalless draw with New Zealand.

Vietnamese swimming star Nguyễn Thị Ánh Viên. — VNA/VNS Photo Quốc Khánh

2. Vietnamese swimming star Nguyễn Thị Ánh Viên broke three Southeast Asian (SEA) Games records in Malaysia in August. She set new marks in the women’s 100m backstroke, women’s 200m freestyle and 200m breastroke. Viên won eight gold and two silver medals at the Games.

She also brought home two gold and one silver medals and set a new record at the Asian Indoor Games and Martial Arts in September in Turkmenistan.

The 21-year-old swimmer also secured her fourth Best Athlete of the Year award. She won the same award three years in a row from 2013 to 2015.

Việt Nam’s national women’s football team. — VNA/VNS Photo Quốc Khánh

3. Việt Nam’s national women’s football team claimed gold at the 29th SEA Games by demolishing hosts Malaysia 6-0 in the final last match in Kuala Lumpur, on August 24.

The event saw five women’s football teams, namely Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar and Việt Nam, playing in a round-robin format for the event’s medals.

This is the fifth time Việt Nam have won the SEA Games women’s football, after winning gold in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2009.

Việt Nam’s delegation at the SEA Games 29. — VNA/VNS Photo Quốc Khánh

4. Việt Nam finished third at the 29th SEA Games in Malaysia in August.

At the nation’s biggest sporting festival of the year, Vietnamese athletes pocketed 58 golds, 50 silvers and 60 bronzes along with 12 new records.

Although the number of titles was not as high as previous Games, athletes performed excellently in Olympic sports such as track-and-field, swimming, fencing and gymnastics.

Notably, Vietnamese track-and-field athletes overthrew Thailand to become ASEAN’s top team in the region after winning 17 gold medals, a record of the biennial Games.

5. The Vietnamese U23 team. — Photo mediacdn.vn

5. For the first time in history, six Vietnamese football teams qualified for Asian championships.

They are the men’s and women’s national teams, the men’s U23, U19 and U16 squads and the national men’s futsal team.

Among them, the U16s, U19s and U23s made their Asian tournament for the second consecutive time.

With their success, the Việt Nam Football Federation won the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Developing Member Association of the Year award at the AFC Annual Awards 2017 ceremony this month in Bangkok.

6. Thạch Kim Tuấn at the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships. — Photo hcmcpv.org.vn

6. Thạch Kim Tuấn won three gold medals at the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships in the US in November. He triumphed in the men’s 56kg category in the snatch, clean and jerk and total. It is the first time a Vietnamese has won in all three events of a category at the world tournament.

Tuấn also won gold medals at the 2017 SEA Games, the National Weightlifting Championships and the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.

Nguyễn Thị Tâm (left) celebrates winning gold at the Asian Women’s Amateur Boxing Championship in HCM City in November.— Photo 24h.com.vn

7. Nguyễn Thị Tâm made Vietnamese boxing history after wining a gold medal at the Asian Women’s Amateur Boxing Championship in HCM City in November.

Tâm pocketed her title after beating strong rivals from Thailand, the Philippines, Mongolia and North Korea in the women’s 51kg division.

It is the first time a Vietnamese female boxer has won a gold medal in the Asian event. Previously, Việt Nam’s best result was two silvers by Ngô Thị Phương and Nguyễn Thị Vui in the women’s 48kg and 60kg classes, respectively, in 2008.

International Master Nguyễn Anh Khôi. — Photo zing.vn

8. 15-year-old Vietnamese International Master Nguyễn Anh Khôi won two gold medals in the boys’ U16 blitz and rapid event of the World Youth U14, U16 and U18 Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships, which ended in Greece in October.

This was Việt Nam’s best result in the world competition’s U16 event. Khôi was world U10 and U12 standard chess champion in 2012 and 2014.

9. Lê Văn Công celebrates winning gold at the World Para Powerlifting Championships in Mexico. — Photo courtesy of Lê Văn Công

9.  Powerlifter Lê Văn Công made headlines as he set a new record at the World Para Powerlifting Championships in Mexico in early December.

After finishing second in Kuala Lumpur in 2010 and Dubai in 2014, the Paralympic champion finally claimed his missing title in the men’s up to 49kg, setting a world record of 183.5kg in his fourth lift to break the mark of 181kg he set at the Rio Paralympics in 2016.

A Vietnamese table tennis player competes in the SEA Games 29. — Photo dantri.com.vn

10. Việt Nam’s men’s table tennis team shocked the region with a victory over Singapore, who have dominated the sport since the 2003 SEA Games in Hà Nội.

They also brought home the first-ever gold in the event. — VNS