The highlight of the Vietnamese sports delegation on the 14th day of the 19th Asian Games was the bronze medal match for women's volleyball against Thailand. However, despite their impressive recent performances, the Vietnamese girls could not catch up with their neighboring opponents. They lost 0-3 and left the tournament empty-handed.

After losing the first set 19-25, Vietnam played well in the second set, leading 14-9 at one point. However, Thailand successfully protested Vietnam's net touch, which became the turning point of the match, causing Thanh Thuy and her teammates to lose their nerve. Thailand then scored five consecutive points to tie the match. At the end of the set, the two teams were neck and neck in every point, but Thailand was more courageous at the crucial moment to win 25-23.

In the third set, despite great efforts, Vietnam was helpless against the opponent's changing style of play and lost 20-25. Thailand won with superior statistics: 75 points compared to 62 points of Vietnam, 41/79 smashes compared to 32/76 of Vietnam, 20/46 successful first-step catches compared to 11/51 of Vietnam. Vietnam's blocking rate was higher, 5/18 times compared to 5/22 of Thailand. However, the team made 21 personal errors compared to 15 of the opponent.

In other sports, Vietnam also had a bad day. In the morning, Asian youth champion Hoang Thi My Tam disappointed when she lost two consecutive matches in the women's under 55kg kumite karate category. After losing 0-2 to Ku Tsui Ping (Taiwan) in the round of 11/8, she lost again to Saddati Fatemeh (Iran) in the bronze medal match.

In the final match of the women's sepak takraw group 3, despite their best efforts, the Vietnamese women's team was powerless against the strength of Thailand and lost 0-2 (15-21, 12-21). Thus, the Vietnamese sepak takraw team won one gold medal, one silver medal and one bronze medal at the 19th Asian Games.

In jujitsu, Hoang Thi Nhat Que lost by submission in the round of 16 of the women's 63 kg category to UAE opponent Alkanbani Shamma. With this result, Nhat Que must hope Shamma advances further to receive a spot in the play-offs to compete for the bronze medal. A similar situation happened to wrestler Can Tat Du when he lost 4-10 to Kinoshita Kirin (Japan) in the men's freestyle wrestling category of the 74 kg category.

In the afternoon, Vietnam won two more bronze medals. Martial artist Do Thanh Nhan beat Baek Junhyeok (Korea) 9-3 in the match for the bronze medal in the men's kumite 84kg category. Thanh Nhan lost to Malik Muhammad Arif Afifudd (Malaysia) in the round of 16. However, in the play-off round, he defeated Firmansah Sandi (Indonesia). In Chinese chess, player Lai Ly Huynh defeated Taiwanese opponent Liu Kuo Hua in the 7th round, thereby winning the bronze medal in the men's individual. Another Vietnamese player - Nguyen Thanh Bao - tied with Malaysian opponent Sim Yip How and finished in 6th place.

Vietnam had a slim hope of winning a bronze medal in the women's team chess event if they defeated Mongolia in round 9. However, the Kazakhstan team lost to Uzbekistan. This scenario did not happen. Thus, Vietnamese chess ended the 19th Asian Games without winning any medals.

Quang Huy

Vnexpress.net