Vietnamese grab gold in Asia, Singapore Open

Nguyen Thi Huyen finds her form at the Singapore Open to win the women’s 400m hurdle event. - File Photo

Quach Cong Lich triumphed in the men’s 400m event with a time of 47.13sec.

It is his second medal at the three-leg tournament.

Three days ago Lich came second and took a silver (clocking 47.21sec) in this category at the first leg tournament in Jinhua City in Zhejiang Province.

Earlier yesterday, his younger sister Quach Thi Lan bagged a silver in the 400m event, with a time of 53.85sec.

Lan ran slower than what she did on Monday when she claimed a gold medal with a time of 53.15sec.

Their young teammate Le Tu Chinh sprinted to win a bronze medal in the women’s 100m with a time of 11.67sec, setting her personal best. It is the 19-year-old’s first Asian-level tournament in her career. Previously, Chinh’s fastest time was 11.69sec.

The third leg event will be organised on Sunday in Chinese Taipei.

In other news, Vietnamese athletes also made their names at the Singapore Open Track & Field Championship yesterday.

Quach Cong Lich wins a gold medal at the Asian Grand Prix in China. - Photo laodong.com.vn

Olympian Nguyen Thi Huyen finished first in the women’s 400m hurdle event with a time of 56.66sec at the Singapore Sports Hub.

It was her best time since last year’s national championship which saw Huyen’s take around 57sec.

Huyen also set a new record of the championship, breaking the old one of 57.16 set by Thailand’s Rewadee Wattanasin in 1998.

Genevieve Cowie of Australia (59.52) came second, followed by Chong Yvette of National University of Singapore (1:06.91).

Huyen is one of the key players to win medals for Viet Nam at the coming Southeast Asian Games this August in Malaysia. She is the defending champion and the record holder (56.15sec) of this category.

Nguyen Van Cong took the first gold for Viet Nam in the men’s long jump in Singapore.

Cong triumphed with a jump of 7.42m, opening a golden day for the team.

Phichet Tharuaruk of Thailand (7.13m) took his silver and Benigno Marayag of Singapore’s Wings Athletic Club (7.09m) claimed a bronze.

Later, Tran Thi Yen Hoa topped the podium in the women’s 100m hurdle, timing 14.12sec.

Malaysian Raja Raja Azhar came second at 14.16sec, while Nur Binte Zaini of Singapore (14.59sec) came third.

In the men’s long jump, Nguyen Tien Trong ranked fourth with a leap of 6.99m.

In the second day of the tournament today, Huyen will take part in the 400m event. At the SEA Games two years ago also in Singapore Huyen ran 52sec to take her title. But in the Rio Games last August she could only make it 52.97sec.

Other Vietnamese Vu Thi Men will compete in the women’s triple jump.