HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam ranked third in the women’s category at the Asian Taekwondo Championship, which concluded in HCM City on May 28.

Vietnamese martial artists brought home one gold, one silver and one bronze medals. South Korea occupied the first position with seven gold, two silver and eight bronze medals. China came second with four golds, two silvers and two bronzes.

On the last day of the competition, Lâm Thị Hà Thanh of Việt Nam won a silver medal in the combat event in the women’s 62kg category after losing 2-10 to Zhang Mengyu of China in the final.

Thanh had defeated Lo Wai In Vincy of Hong Kong, Bibalayeva Gulim of Kazakhstan and Alizedeh Zenoorin Kimia of Iran to reach the final.

Earlier, Trương Thị Kim Tuyền secured Việt Nam’s first gold medal in the women’s 46kg, while Phạm Thị Thu Hiền won a bronze medal in the women’s 57kg category.

“Every country brought their best players to compete against Việt Nam, so it was difficult for the hosts to win gold medals in the combat event. However, now that the country has won a gold medal after six years of wait, we hope Vietnamese players will achieve better results at the Asian Games in Indonesia in August,” said Trương Ngọc Để, chairman of the Việt Nam Taekwondo Federation.

The championship, which saw the participation of nearly 700 athletes from 50 countries, was a warm-up for teams to prepare for the Asian Games.

It was co-organised by the municipal Department of Culture and Sports and the Việt Nam Taekwondo Federation. — VNS