Vietnamese judo throws down for two gold medals

Anh Đức

HÀ NỘI — The judo duo of Trần Quốc Cường and Phan Minh Hạnh, as well as Nguyễn Tường Vy and Mai Thị Bích Trâm, won Việt Nam’s first two gold medals in judo on May 18.

At the Hoài Đức Sports Complex, judo began with the Kodokan Goshin Jutsu event for males and Katame No Kata event for females.

Eight Vietnamese judokas competed in the events, divided into four teams across two events.

In the Kodokan Goshin Jutsu event, the two male teams were Trần Quốc Cường-Phan Minh Hạnh and Nguyễn Cường Thịnh-Hà Minh Minh Đức.

The female teams competing in the Katame No Kata event were Nguyễn Tường Vy-Mai Thị Bích Trâm and Trần Lê Phương Nga-Nguyễn Thuỳ Hải Châu.

In the preliminary round of the Katame No Kata event, both Vietnamese teams made it to the final round, competing against teams from Thailand and Laos.

Vy and Trâm won the gold medal with 402.5 points, while Phương Nga injured her foot and could only win bronze with her teammate Hải Châu.

In the Kodokan Goshin Jutsu event, the male athletes repeated their female teammates’ triumph by reaching the final round.

Quốc Cường and Minh Hạnh won the event with 550.5 points, 16.5 points ahead of their compatriots Cường Thịnh and Minh Đức, who finished second.

“I am very proud to win the first gold medal for Judo,” said Quốc Cường, “Although there was pressure at first, we eventually overcame it and thrived.”

“Our success is mostly from previous international experiences,” said Cường’s teammate, Minh Hạnh. “We tried to find out how to fix our mistakes, and with our coach’s suggestions, we have been fully prepared for the SEA Games.”

Judo has 13 events in the 31st SEA Games, which includes 10 individual events, 1 mixed team event and 2 Kata events.

Judo will continue on May 19 with the individual events.