(Sports Today Monday 8 August 2016)
Best Part was beating China: Vietnamese Fan
Vietnam, Thailand off to golden starts
![](https://t1.daumcdn.net/cfile/cafe/213D453757A817A908)
THAI-TANIC EFFORT
Thai weightlifter Sopita tanasan, 21, celebrating her victory in the women’s 48kg category on Sat.,
winning the first weightlifting gold medal of the Rio olympics.
Tanasan’s win gave Asian Nations an encouraging start, with Vietnam — its first —
Japan, South Korea and China also winning gold medals. Photo: Getty Images
Vietnam shooter Hoang wins historic gold; Thai weightlifter Tanasan takes women’s 48kg crown
RIO DE JANEIRO — Singapore’s Southeast Asian neighbours have made a golden start to the Rio Olympics, with Vietnamese shooter Xuan Vinh Hoang and Thailand weightlifter Sopita Tanasan becoming national heroes after winning their respective events.
Hoang secured Vietnam’s first Olympic gold medal ever, winning the men’s 10m air pistol event after holding off crowd favourite Felipe Wu of host country Brazil.
Wu, a 24-year-old competing in his first Olympics, won Brazil its first medal of the Games, on the first day of competition, and its first in shooting since 1920.
He and the 41-year-old Hoang took turns at the top before the Vietnamese eked out a 0.4 of a point advantage to win with 202.5 points in 20 shots. Both are members of their countries’ armed forces.
“In the last shot, all I was trying to do was finish it off,” said Hoang, a two-time Olympian who also won his country’s first medal in shooting.
China’s Pang Wei, who won the gold medal in Beijing in 2008, took the bronze for shooting, while defending Olympic champion Jin Jongoh of South Korea failed to recover from a poor start and finished fifth.
According to Vietnamese state media, Hoang will receive US$100,000 (S$134,645) from the state on his return — a handsome sum in a country where the average annual income is about US$2,100. But it was the fact he had beaten an opponent from China that sparked great rejoicing in his country.
“So proud! But the greatest happiness was that we won over China,” Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen, a Vietnamese music show host based in the US but popular in her homeland, wrote on Facebook.
“Vietnamese sport has begun a new chapter,” added Facebook user Nguyen Dat. “Defeating the Chinese athlete, hosts Brazil and the current South Korean champion. So convincing!”
“You are the pride of the nation and the people,” added reader Truong Tran Hoang Du, on the Tuoi Tre newspaper’s website.
Vietnam has shared an intense rivalry with its giant northern neighbour for centuries — an animosity that has been stoked in recent years by competing claims in the South China Sea.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Olympic ban and China’s ruthless selection policy helped pave the way for Tanasan’s win — the first weightlifting gold medal of the Rio Games in the women’s 48kg on Saturday.
Tanasan, daughter of an international boxer, became Thailand’s fourth gold medallist in women’s weightlifting, with a total of 200kg.
Taking full advantage of the withdrawal through injury last week of hot Chinese favourite Hou Zhihui, the 21-year-old won by 8kg over Indonesia’s Sri Wahyuni Agustiani.
In third place was Japan’s Hiromi Miyake, the 2012 silver medallist who was competing in her fourth Games. AGENCIES