Viet Nam wins two more medals at Paralympic 2016
The Vietnamese delegation of athletes with disabilities continued to win more precious medals at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, winning two more medals in a row on the competition day in the early hours of this morning.
In the early hours of this morning (13 September), swimmer Vo Thanh Tung of the Vietnamese delegation of athletes with disabilities entered the final of the men’s 50m freestyle, S5 disability class, at the Rio 2016 Paralympics. In the heats, Vo Thanh Tung ranked second overall with a time of 33.87 seconds, behind host nation Brazil’s swimmer Daniel Dias (33.55 seconds).
In the final, Thanh Tung started in lane 5, right next to Daniel Dias (4). Thanh Tung did not start well and ranked only 5th over the first 20m. But after that, he pulled ahead and won the silver medal with a time of 33.94 seconds. The gold medal went to host nation Brazil’s Daniel Dias with a time of 32.78 seconds, and the bronze medal to American swimmer Roy Perkins with 34.42 seconds. This result also helped Tung break the Asian record of 34.43 seconds, which he himself had set at the European open swimming competition for people with disabilities a few months earlier.
After this silver medal, swimmer Vo Thanh Tung will go on to compete in 2 other events in the S5 disability class: the 100m freestyle and the 50m backstroke. Earlier, he had finished the 50m butterfly final in 7th place.
| Vo Thanh Tung wins the silver medal in the 50m freestyle, S5 disability class |
Besides Thanh Tung’s silver medal in the 50m freestyle, S5 disability class, in the early hours of this morning athlete Cao Ngoc Hung won a Paralympic bronze medal after finishing the javelin event with a result of 43.27 m. The gold and silver medals in this event went to two Iranian athletes, Mohammad Khalvandi (gold, 46.12 m) and Abdollah Heidari Til (silver, 43.77 m).
Thus, up to this point, the Vietnamese delegation of athletes with disabilities has won a total of 4 medals at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, including 1 gold medal for Le Van Cong (weightlifting), 1 silver medal for Vo Thanh Tung (swimming) and 2 bronze medals for Cao Ngoc Hung (javelin) and Linh Phuong (weightlifting).
Immediately after athletes Vo Thanh Tung and Cao Ngoc Hung won the silver and bronze medals, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien sent a letter of congratulations and decided to award on-the-spot bonuses of 40 million VND to Tung, 15 million VND to his coach, 20 million VND to Hung and 10 million VND to Hung’s coach. In the letter sent to the Vietnamese delegation of athletes with disabilities, Minister Nguyen Ngoc Thien said: “On behalf of the leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, I warmly commend the achievements just made by swimmer Vo Thanh Tung, an athlete with a disability, and track and field athlete Cao Ngoc Hung.
This is the first time Vietnamese disability sport has won a gold medal, broken a Paralympic record, broken a world record, won a silver medal and 2 bronze medals at the world’s largest sporting event for people with disabilities, completing its mission excellently.
This victory once again affirms the wonderful will and determination to rise up of the athletes with disabilities, who have overcome difficulties in their daily lives and training to achieve the highest results and bring glory home to the country.
Once again, I congratulate and commend the wonderful achievements that the athletes with disabilities have made at the Rio 2016 Paralympics”.
Hoang Nam