ASIAD 2023: Vietnam delegation completes gold medal target

The gold medal in Sepak Takraw helped the Vietnamese Sports Delegation rise three places on the achievement rankings of the 19th Asian Games (ASIAD 2023).

The Vietnamese women's sepak takraw team on the medal podium. Photo: Hoang Linh/VNA

On the morning of October 4, the Vietnamese women's Sepak Takraw team defeated Indonesia in the final match with a score of 2-1 to win the championship. This is the 3rd ASIAD gold medal in the history of Sepak Takraw Vietnam. With the achievement of winning the gold medal, the Sepak Takraw women's team with 6 athletes (4 main players, 2 reserve players) was awarded 840 million VND by the Vietnamese Government (140 million VND/gold medal, teams with 6 athletes will receive the same amount); Sepak Takraw Federation "instantly awarded" 300 million VND and the Vietnam Sports Delegation awarded 500 million VND.

Mr. Le Thanh Son - official in charge of the Sepak Takraw sport under the General Department of Sports and Physical Training - affirmed: "We have been building the Sepak Takraw team for many years. After not being successful at the 18th ASIAD, we continued to change. This generation of Vietnamese Sepak Takraw athletes is still very young and we have succeeded thanks to their youth and fighting spirit, which has brought us victory today. In this 4-woman Sepak Takraw event, the techniques are different from the 3-woman Sepak Takraw event. The Vietnamese Sepak Takraw team has young, potential athletes, ensuring positions that can perform techniques and tactics in 4-person competitions. We hope that the Sepak Takraw team will continue to receive more attention and investment, and if it is interested, Vietnam Sepak Takraw will certainly reap more success. Particularly, the Vietnamese men's Sepak Takraw team won a bronze medal at the 18th ASIAD. At this congress, we hope that the men's team can change the color of the medal, but unfortunately, in the men's 4-person kicking event, The team did not make it to the semi-finals. There are still 3 men's and 3 women's events that have not been played yet. We hope that the athletes will do something to affirm the position of Vietnamese Sepak Takraw." As of 1:00 p.m. on October 4, the Vietnamese Sports delegation had won 2 gold medals, 3 silver medals and 14 bronze medals. Thus, Vietnamese Sports has completed the target of achieving at least 2 gold medals at this year's congress.

Minh Tien (VNA correspondent from Hangzhou, China)