The Vietnamese Paralympic Sports Delegation opened the 12th ASEAN Para Games with the first gold medal in swimming. In the 400m freestyle event, athlete Vo Huynh Anh Khoa (disability category S8) won the championship with a time of 5 minutes 20 seconds 94. In the men's 50m backstroke event, disability category S5, athlete Vo Thanh Tung won the gold medal with a time of 41 seconds 88.

Athlete Le Van Cong won 2 gold medals. Photo: NAM TRUNG

Athlete Vi Thi Hang impressed when she won the gold medal and broke the record for the 400m swimming in the S7 category for women with disabilities with a time of 6 minutes 57 seconds 95 (the old record was 9 minutes 34 seconds 94). Not long after, Vi Thi Hang won the women's 100m freestyle. The Vietnamese swimming team also won more gold medals from Nguyen Thanh Trung (S4 category, men's 50m backstroke), Nguyen Van Hanh (men's 100m freestyle).

Weightlifter Le Van Cong brought home two gold medals in the men's under-49kg category. Le Van Cong completed three weights including 162kg, 166kg and 168kg. Le Van Cong's second gold medal was in the total lift, where he achieved an impressive result of 496kg, 5kg more than the runner-up. Thus, Le Van Cong has dominated the men's under-49kg category in weightlifting for six consecutive ASEAN Para Games, from 2007 to present.

Weightlifting continued to bring joy to fans with 2 gold medals won by Dang Thi Linh Phuong in the women's under-50kg category. In particular, the total lift of 279kg helped Dang Thi Linh Phuong set a record for the Games. In the men's 54kg category, weightlifter Nguyen Binh An won 2 gold medals.

In athletics, athlete Tran Van Nguyen won the gold medal in the men's javelin throw category F40-41 with a score of 32.9m. In the women's shot put category F57, athlete Nguyen Thi Hai won the gold medal.

As of 8:30 p.m. on June 4, the Vietnamese Paralympic Sports Delegation had 15 gold medals, 11 silver medals, and 13 bronze medals, temporarily ranking second on the medal tally. Leading the way was the Indonesian sports delegation with 23 gold medals, 19 silver medals, and 12 bronze medals.

HOAI PHUONG