Vietnamese athletes set two records in international event

Two records were made in the Ho Chi Minh City International Track and Field Championships Open on July 27.

Athlete Bui Thi Xuan of Vietnam (Photo: plo.vn)

Bui Thi Xuan of Vietnam hurled an outstanding throw of 51.70m in the women’s javelin event.

Xuan won a gold medal, and her result is a new bar in the tournament. The old record of 56.60 was also made by her last year. Xuan is a member of the national team which will compete in the upcoming Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in Malaysia.

Hours later, Nguyen Van Dong of the hosts became the new champion and record holder in the men’s long jump event. Dong achieved a result of 7.89m and surpassed his No 1 rival Pham Van Lam, the former winner.

Lam, who won a silver medal at the Singapore SEA Games two years ago, had set the old record of 7.73m in 2013.

In the men’s high jump event, Malaysian veteran Lee Hup Wei took a gold medal with a jump of 2.18m. Cao Vo Ngoc Long of HCM City team came second with 2.13m. The result was better than Long’s jump (2.10m) that won him a title in the recent Asian championship for junior athletes.

Nguyen Thi Huyen of Vietnam finished first in the women’s 400m, timing 54.40sec.

Vietnamese athletes won gold medal in the women’s 4x100m relay. The tournament will continue today with the 200m, 400m hurdle and 1,500m events for both men and women.

The annual tournament is in its 24th edition. It has been recognised as an official event of the Asian Athletics Association since 2010.

This year, seven countries and territories have sent athletes to the tournament. The organisers reported that there were about 120 foreign athletes and 500 local participants.

(Source: NDO)