Vietnam wins 71 golds, surpasses target

Vietnam has grabbed three gold medals in fencing, judo and weightlifting on Friday at the SEA Games, adding them to a total bag of 71 gold medals. It surpasses the target of 70 golds the nation had set forth itself ahead of the tournament being held in Indonesia from Nov.11-22.

Weightlifter Tran Le Quoc Toan won the men’s 56kg event to take home a gold and the second one belonged to three women Le Thi Bich, Nguyen Thi Nguyet and Nguyen Thi Tuoi in women’s team foil fencing.

Toan scored a total of 280kg including 125kg for snatch and 155kg for clean and jerk, followed by Indonesian Jadi Setiadi winning a silver with 278kg in total and Thach Kim Tuan of Vietnam with 271kg.

Judo fighter Ho Ngan Giang added the other gold medal after winning the men’s under 60kg event.

With 71 gold medals, Vietnam remains at the second place after the host Indonesia with 119 golds. Thailand came in at third place with 67 gold medals.

At the 2009 SEA Games in Laos, Vietnam won up to 83 gold medals and ranked second behind Thailand with 86 golds.

Vietnam beat Laos 3-1, two red cards

Vietnam came from behind to beat Laos 3-1 in a tense game with two red cards for both sides. The result sends Vietnam to top group B and will take on Indonesia in the semifinals on Saturday. 

Despite of being pushed to a defensive style of playing during most of the first half of the game after Laos opened the score in the third minute and center back Long Giang was given a red card in the 18th minute, Vietnam braced up themselves and scored three goals in the second half. 

From an attack on the left side, Lao striker Keoviengpheth Lith was set up in a suitable position in the Vietnam box without interceptions by Vietnamese defenders and he didn’t miss the chance to convert it into the goal.

Fifteen minutes later, center back Long Giang played foul at a Lao striker from behind to stop his attack and was given a red card. 

With more players on the field, Laos kept on their rhythm and stunned the defensive line of Vietnam with several following chances despite Vietnam created some chances but none was successfully converted. In a context that Vietnam has already secured a spot to the semifinals regardless of the result of the Laos game, the red card means likely a crazy mistake by Long Giang as he will miss the semifinal game in two days. Vietnam braced up themselves in the second half and scored three goals. In the 66th minute, midfielder Dinh Tung got the ball in the box and made a cushion to level it 1-1. Three minutes later, Vietnam launched an attack along the right wing. Au Van Hoan slotted the ball for Dinh Tung in the box before Tung crossed it over to Van Quyet to blast a short-range shot and extend it 2-1 for Vietnam. At the 75th minute, Laotian play maker Lamnao Singto was booked a red card after punching at the face of Vietnam center back Anh Quang. Just five minutes before the end of the game, Trong Hoang shot wide a penalty kick and missed the chance to extend the score for Vietnam. In the last-gasp minute, Van Quyet had the ball and made a cross to Van Thang to convert it into a goal and seal a 3-1 win for Vietnam.

Long giang get a red card

Key developments in the match Vietnam - Laos

12/11 - 16h this afternoon,Viet nam entered the match against Group B opponents weakest, to target big win for inspiration as well as advantages to a diagram of sub-indices with counterbalance other. Prior to the match this afternoon, U23 Vietnam has gone through three match with a record 3-1 win Philippines, Myanmar 0-0 and defeated East Timor 2-0. Our team has the same 7 points as Myanmar, at second possition. 1-0 for U23 Vietnam! 54 seconds U23 Vietnam completely dominate the game. Just three minutes later, Van Thang had two consecutive chances. 2-0! Van Quyet had second goal. 12 minutes he escaped the offside trap and succeed when he face keeper of Brunei