Vietnamese team finishes Paris Paralympics with one bronze

Chau Hoang Tuyet Loan competes in the women's powerlifting 55kg category during the Paris Paralympics on September 5. She was the last Vietnamese competitor at the event. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

The last athlete Chau Hoang Tuyet Loan finished fifth in the women's 55kg powerlifting with a best result of 96kg after her second attempt. She tried to take 99kg in the last lift but did not succeed.

Rehab Ahmed of Egypt (121kg), Besra Duman of Turkey (113kg) and Kamolpan Kraratpet of Thailand (108kg) took top-three positions, respectively.

Earlier, Loan's teammate Dang Thi Linh Phuong in her 50kg class was expected to at least repeat her record of a bronze that she took at the Rio Paralympics in 2016 or a silver as she did at the world championship in 2017. However, competing against seven strong rivals, she could not perform her best.

Her result was recorded at 98kg in the second attempt after a lift of 103kg in the last one was not recognised.

She finished eighth. Venezuelan Clara Sarahy took gold with a lift of 124kg which is a new Paralympic record. Chinese Xiao Jinping (119kg) and Britain's Olivia Broome (119kg) were second and third, respectively.

Lifter Nguyen Binh An also failed in the men's 54kg. The SEA Games champion registered 168kg in his first attempt but it was called 'No Lift'. He suffered shoulder injury and withdrew.

Runner Pham Nguyen Khanh Minh, the youngest member of the Vietnamese team, took part in the men's 400m T12 heat on September 4. He finished third in the second heat in a time of 51.28sec, setting his seasonal best. But it was not enough to qualify for the finals.

Two swimmers of Vietnam also failed to take top three in their men's 100m breaststroke SB5 event. Le Tien Dat and Do Thanh Hai placed fourth and fifth, respectively.

After eight days of competitions, lifter Cong is the most successful competitor of Vietnam as he won a bronze in the men's 49kg class.

Although his score of 171kg was far below his world record of 183.5kg Cong's achievement was praised as he competed with a long-time shoulder injury.

The former world and Paralympic champion posted on Facebook: "I won bronze for Vietnam at the Paris Paralympics. This result is worse than a silver at the Tokyo and a gold at the Rio but this is the most meaningful one for me.

"In this competition, I not only lifted the barbell and was against strong rivals but also faced my own injury which was the biggest challenge that I had to overcome to step on the podium. A bronze is a great consolation for me."

His injury affected Cong after the first lift of 171kg but he still tried to increase the weight to 176kg in the second and 181kg in the third attempt. He failed in both and the injury became more serious.

Cong, the first Vietnamese sportsman who made Paralympic medal hattrick, said he would spend time to treat his injury and come back stronger to bring more achievement for Vietnam in the future.

Currently, China still dominate the medal tally with 74 golds. The UK is second with 36 gold and the US third with 27. The 17th Paralympics will close on September 9./.