They are the first two gold medals for Vietnam’s pencak silat team and the third and fourth gold medals for the entire sports delegation.

In the men’s under-95kg final, defending champion of last year’s SEA Games Trí beat Malaysian fighter Yaacob Mohd Khaizul 5-0.

In the first two rounds, Tri launched many kicks but was unsuccessful. He changed his strategy in third round and performed better, while Khaizul lost his temper and continued committing multiple violations until Tri beat him.

The 24-year-old suffered a knee injury before the SEA Games 2015, and has been on the end of some questionable decisions from referees over the years, but the Vietnamese fighter never gave up.

Meanwhile, in the men’s under-75k kg final, Nam beat Khalid Mohd Fauzi of Malaysia 5-0, claiming sweet revenge after losing to Fauzi due to more questionable refereeing calls in last year’s SEA Games.

Pencak silat is a sport greatly influenced by referees, so it is hard to overcome unfair decisions if they take the host nation’s sides.

Vietnam’s two pencak silat gold medals at the Malaysia SEA Games 2017 were won by sparring techniques. “If the referee had been unbiased, we would have won at least five golds,” said head coach of national pencak silak team Nguyen Van Hung.

In the men’s 55-60kg, Nguyen Thai Linh won a silver after losing to host martial artist Yudani Kusumah Hanifan.

In the women’s 60-65kg final, Nguyen Thi Cam Nhi also won silver, losing to host fighter Kamelia Pipiet.

Meanwhile, in the women’s team final, trio Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, Nguyen Thi Huyen and Vuong Thi Binh brought home silver. The gold medal went to hosts Indonesia.

Tran Thi Them won another silver after losing to host fighter Wita Wewey in the women’s 50-55kg final.

In the women’s double final, Nguyen Thi Thu Ha and Nguyen Thi Huyen finished sixth with 544 points. The gold went to the hosts also.

Lastly, in the men’s singles, Vu Tien Dung placed fourth with 435 points.

In total, the national pencak silat team competed in eight events and bagged two golds and four silvers.

Earlier, in judo, martial artists Hoang Thi Tinh, Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy and Phan Vu Nam failed in the women’s 48kg, 52kg and men’s 60kg, respectively.

In the women’s volleyball quarter-final, Vietnam were defeated by Thailand 0-3 (23-25, 16-25, 20-25).

In the women’s 200m hurdle final, Vietnam’s only hope Quach Thi Lan tried her best but finished in a time of 23.77sec, good for eighth place. The gold medal went to Odiong Edidiong from Bahrain.

Vietnam has won four golds, 15 silvers and 13 bronzes so far, standing 13th in the medal table. (Vietnamnews.vn)