Thach Kim Tuan won the first gold medal for Vietnam at AIMAG 2017

Ho Chi Minh City weightlifter won with a total lift of 282kg at the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Turkmenistan last night, September 18.

Kim Tuan played confidently and won overwhelmingly. Photo: TC.

There are 11 athletes competing in the final of the men's 56kg category. Kim Tuan and Tran Le Quoc Toan are considered the most promising candidates, as they do not have to compete with the world's leading weightlifters from China and Indonesia. In fact, the Vietnamese duo only need to successfully perform the starting weight to win the gold and silver medals.

In the snatch competition, Kim Tuan registered for the initial level of 125kg and Quoc Toan for 120kg, while the remaining athletes were only from 92kg to 118kg. And Vietnam's number one weightlifter had no difficulty in gaining the upper hand with a score of 131kg, above 19-year-old athlete Jia Xionghui who achieved 128kg. Quoc Toan was unsuccessful in the final round, only achieving 123kg and ranked third.

*The snatch competition of Kim Tuan - Quoc Toan

In the clean and jerk, the initial registration level between the two Vietnamese weightlifters was even further than that of their opponents. Therefore, when the other athletes had almost finished competing, Kim Tuan and Quoc Toan started to compete. With the same starting point of 147kg and both successful, Vietnam was considered to have firmly grasped the two leading positions. The following clean and jerks were just a one-on-one race between the two teammates to improve their achievements. In the end, Kim Tuan achieved a total of 282kg and Quoc Toan 276kg.

In the long jump final, there were 12 athletes participating, but Bui Thi Thu Thao almost only competed one-on-one with Olga Rypakova (Kazakshtan).

SThe difference in space and feeling of competing indoors seems to prevent Thu Thao from achieving the same high level of performance as in outdoor athletics.The 2017 SEA Games champion only achieved6m36, 0.32m less than the record just set by Malaysia in August. She ranked right behindRypakova (reached 6m43).

After the first day of competition, the Vietnamese team won one gold medal, two silver medals and four bronze medals.

AIMAG 2017 takes place from September 16 to 27. In addition to 45 countries in Asia, this year's tournament has the participation of 17 other countries in Oceania. The Vietnamese sports delegation participated with 164 members, competing in 14 out of 21 sports.

According to VNE