The Vietnamese sport delegation at the 29th SEA Games (Source: vietnamnet.vn).

Vietnam sent 472 athletes to SEA Games 29, competing in 32 out of 38 sports at the event. The country set the goal of claiming between 49 and 59 gold medals and a place in the top three positions at the region’s largest sport festival.

Vietnam has been in the top 3 for seven consecutive SEA Games since 2003.

Tran Duc Phan, head of the Vietnamese team noted that more than 90 percent of gold medals seized by Vietnam this season belong to the Olympic sports category, adding that the figure for the last SEA Games was 87 percent.

It means Vietnam is on the right track in training its athletes for the 2018 Asian Games and 2020 Summer Olympics’ qualifying round.

Athletics athletes’ achievements at the SEA Games 29, with a total of 17 gold medals, have lived up to expectation and made up for other sports.

At this year’s regional sport event, host Malaysia climbed to the top position with 145 gold, 32 silver and 86 bronze medals, followed by Thailand (72 gold, 86 silver and 88 bronze).

Timor Leste was at the bottom of the list with three bronze medals.

The 29th SEA Games took place in Malaysia from August 19-30 with the participation of 4,888 athletes from 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Timor-Leste. The athletes competed in 405 categories of 38 sports.

This is the sixth games hosted by Malaysia after similar events in 1965, 1971, 1977, 1989 and 2001.

Source: VNA