The Vietnamese sports delegation at the Asian Games maintained a medal count of one gold, one silver, and 16 bronze medals, while carving out notable advancements across sepak takraw, archery, and beach volleyball competition brackets. The performances highlight a mix of tactical breakthroughs and tight setbacks as athletes face early-round eliminations and advancing draws.
Sepak Takraw Teams Secure Crucial Semifinal Berth
In sepak takraw action, the Vietnamese men’s regu squad—featuring captain Nguyen Van Nhan alongside teammates Ngo Thanh Long and Luong Cong Minh—battled past Myanmar in a hard-fought second set to seal a 2-0 match victory. After claiming the opening frame 15-5, the Vietnamese trio squeezed out a 15-13 decision in the second to punch their ticket directly to the tournament semifinals. However, the program faced headwinds elsewhere in the discipline. Athletes Nguyen Thi Thu Trang and Nguyen Thi Khanh Ly dropped a tightly contested match to Laos, falling 1-2 with set scores of 15-12, 10-15, and 9-15. Meanwhile, the men’s sepak takraw side stumbled against Malaysia with a 0-2 defeat (9-15, 15-17), marking their second loss.
Archers Advance Past Regional Rivals in Mixed and Pairs Play
Vietnam’s archery contingent delivered several strong elimination-round performances on the tournament courts. Dang Cong Duc and Le Thuy Phuong Nhi overcame their Iranian opponents with a 6-2 scoreline to advance into the quarterfinals of the recurve mixed double event. In the compound mixed doubles, Nguyen Hoang Phi Vu and Loc Thi Dao secured their quarterfinal berth by defeating a pair from Bhutan 158-150. Despite those individual and pair successes, team brackets proved more challenging. The women’s recurve team—consisting of Le Thuy Phuong Nhi, Le Pham Ngoc Anh, and Nguyen Thi Thanh Thao—fell short against China in the quarterfinals by a razor-thin 223-226 margin. The men’s team similarly exited the competition at the quarterfinal stage following a loss to Chinese Taipei.
Beach Volleyball and Shooting Highlights
On the sand courts, beach volleyball duo Nguyen Lam Toi and Nguyen Van Viet opened their Group C campaign in dominant fashion, sweeping Mongolia 2-0 with identical 21-13 scorelines in both sets. On the shooting ranges, Trinh Thu Vinh delivered an exceptional showing in the women’s 25-meter slow-fire pistol qualification. Registering scores of 95, 99, and 97 across three series, Thu Vinh totaled 291 points to sit in third place overall. Teammates Nguyen Thuy Trang and Nguyen Thuy Dung finished the preliminary rounds in 28th and 39th positions with totals of 283 and 279 points respectively. Athletes return to the ranges for the 30-shot rapid-fire discipline to determine the final eight qualifiers for the final.
Badminton, Kurash, and Volleyball Encounter Early Hurdles
The delegation experienced several early-round exits across court and combat sports. In badminton, Nguyen Dinh Hoang and Tran Dinh Manh exited the men’s doubles tournament in the quarterfinals after running into a sharp Indonesian pair, losing 6-21, 10-21. Kurash competition brought tough draws as Pham Nguyen Hong Mo fell 0-5 to Uzbekistan’s Kodirova Fotima in the under-57kg round of 32. Nguyen Thi Huong absorbed a narrow defeat, dropping a 0-3 decision via chala point at the 20th second. In team sports, the men’s volleyball squad opened Group C play with a 0-3 loss to India. On the track, Le Thi Cam Tu placed seventh out of eight finalists in the women’s 200-meter dash, crossing the finish line in 23.53 seconds.
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