2016 has been an auspicious year for Vietnam at international sporting events, as the country’s Paralympic team has snapped up three more medals: a bronze in powerlifting, a silver in swimming and a bronze in athletics.
Vo Thanh Tung, an S5 swimmer, finished second in the men’s 50m freestyle final, thus clinching Vietnam’s first-ever silver medal at a Paralympic event, reports Tuoi Tre.
According to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), swimmers are classified as S5 if they have “short stature and an additional impairment, with loss of control over one side of their body (hemiplegia), or with paraplegia” and compete in freestyle, butterfly and backstroke events.
Brazilian swimmer Daniel Dias, the current world-record holder for the event, won the gold medal after finishing 1.16 seconds faster than Tung.
On the same day, javelin thrower Cao Ngoc Hung came in third in the men’s javelin final for F56 and F57, thus earning Vietnam’s fourth medal overall, and second bronze medal, during the Paralympics this year.
F56 athletes demonstrate some hip flexion and adductor muscle activity in addition to trunk function, while athletes in class F57 demonstrate the additional ability to extend and abduct the hips, according to the IPC’s Paralympic classification guide.
Last Sunday, Tuoi Tre reported that Dang Thi Phuong Linh won her event – the women’s 50kg powerlifting – to snatch a bronze medal, behind Ukraine’s Soloviova Lidiia and Egypt’s Ahmed Rehab.
Earlier in the compeition, the nation gained its first gold medal, won by powerlifter Le Van Cong.
