Vietnam falls short of gold-medal target at Asian Games

The country’s final medal hopes ended on Saturday when wrestler Nguyen Thi My Trang lost her bronze-medal bout in the women’s 57kg category.

Although the Games continue on Sunday with equestrian competition, Vietnam has no athletes taking part.

The delegation therefore finishes the Games with 25 medals, including three golds, three silvers, and 19 bronzes.

Vietnam had sent 348 athletes to the Games in Japan and targeted four gold medals, with shooting, sepak takraw, athletics, rowing, karate, taekwondo, and esports identified among the main medal hopes.

After two weeks of competition, however, only sepak takraw and karate delivered gold medals, both in disciplines that had also brought Vietnam golds at the previous Asian Games.

Shooting was one of the biggest disappointments, producing just one bronze medal, down from one gold, one silver, and one bronze at the 19th Asian Games. Leading shooters Trinh Thu Vinh and Pham Quang Huy both failed to win individual medals.

Taekwondo came close to delivering another gold when Chau Ngoc Tuyet Sang reached the final after defeating strong opponents from South Korea, Thailand, and Singapore, but she lost to a Filipino rival in the title bout.

Her silver medal in virtual reality taekwondo was still seen as an encouraging result, given the discipline is new and Vietnam had limited experience assessing its competitors.

Vietnam’s gold-medal ambitions in athletics, rowing, and esports proved more difficult to realize.

Vietnam’s rowers fought hard, but the gap between them and Asia’s leading teams, particularly China, remained substantial.

Athletics offered a rare moment of excitement in the mixed 4x400m relay, but that performance was still not enough to put Vietnam in serious contention for gold.

Outside that event, most Vietnamese athletes and relay teams finished near the bottom of their finals, underlining the considerable distance that remains between Vietnam and the medal contenders.