Leaving many hallmarks at the fourth Asian Beach Games 2014 just ended in Thailand, Vietnam sports has more driving force and self-confidence for hosting the fifth Asian Beach Games expected to take place in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa in 2016.
Leaving many hallmarks at the fourth Asian Beach Games 2014 just ended in Thailand, Vietnam sports has more driving force and self-confidence for hosting the fifth Asian Beach Games expected to take place in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa in 2016.
At the fourth Asian Beach Games 2014, Vietnam’s sports delegation successfully completed the target with 40 medals of all kinds (8 golden medals, 12 silvers and 20 bronzes), ranking fifth in the overall medal tally among 43 sports delegations.
This was considered as the most successful sports festival at the regional level of Vietnam sports because at the previous Asian Beach Games, Vietnam gained no golden medals.
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Athletes of Vietnam’s beach football team (in white uniform and blue one) playing at Asian Beach Games 2014. (Source: facebook.com/bongdakhanhhoa) |
The most noticeable hallmarks were from martial arts and bodybuilding which have been considered as the strong sports of Vietnam at some big sports festivals like Sea Games, Asiad, etc. At the Asian Beach Games 2014, athletes of martial arts brought three golden medals to Vietnam’s sports delegation while two other ones came from bodybuilders. The target set for Vietnam’s martial arts team at this year’s Asian Beach Games was achieving two or three golden medals because the team had excellent athletes of muay Thai and kurash, etc.
As expected, “golden girl” of Vietnam’s martial arts Van Ngoc Tu grabbed the first golden medal for Vietnam’s sports delegation after defeating her Taiwanese rival. Muay Thai athletes Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat and Bui Yen Ly also succeeded in getting two golden medals for the team.
Two out of three bodybuilders of Vietnam team performed excellently, earning them two golden medals. In petanque event, the male team and the athlete couple Le Thi Thu Mai – Thach Tuan Thanh satisfied fans when overcoming athletes of the host team to win two golden medals.
The biggest surprise came from woodball team. At the final round of women’s team event, Vietnam’s team trounced Thailand’s Team (winning all of four golden medals at the third Asian Beach Games) by the score of 3-0.
At this games, although only ranking fourth, Vietnam’s beach football team also gained a proud achievement when becoming one of four strong beach football teams in Asia.
All these achievements will become driving force and hope for Vietnam beach sports at the fifth Asian Beach Games 2016.
H.N
