Vietnam ranked sixth in the medal tally of the Rio 2016 Olympics on the first day, August 6 (local time), after marksman Hoang Xuan Vinh secured the historic gold medal. 

Vinh won the first-ever Olympic gold medal for Vietnam after winning a total score of 202.5 in the men’s 10m air pistol event. 

However, other Vietnamese athletes did not perform well on the day. 

Vinh’s teammate, Tran Quoc Cuong, failed to go through the qualifying round as he ranked only the 26th place with 575 points. 

Weightlifter Vuong Thi Huyen did not succeed in the women’s 48kg category. 

Nguyen Thi Anh Vien finished the women’s 400m medley in 4 minutes and 36.85 seconds, breaking her own record of 4 minutes and 38.78 seconds set at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, Russia. 

However, that achievement was unable to help her advance to the final round as she was in the ninth place in the qualifiers, only 0.31 seconds more than the eighth-place swimmer. 

In the women’s 48kg event, judoka Van Ngoc Tu was stopped at the round of 16 after losing to Jeong Bo Kyeong of the Republic of Korea. Earlier, she won 2 – 1 against Italy’s Moscatt Valentina. 

In the individual épée event, female fencer Nguyen Thi Nhu Hoa lost 7 – 15 to France Auriane Mallo in the round of 64. 

Gymnast Pham Phuoc Hung gained 14.966 points in the men’s parallel bars competition, raking 28th in the qualifying round. 

On the first day of the Olympics, 12 gold, 12 silver and 14 bronze medals were presented. Australia took the lead with two golds and one bronze. It was followed by Hungary, the US, the Republic of Korea, and Japan.

VNA