Medal standings and a series of incidents on the opening day of the SEA Games 33

(Dan Tri Newspaper) - Thailand won a "shower" of gold medals on the opening day of the 33rd SEA Games, but the host organizing committee also allowed a series of incidents to occur, causing frustration among Southeast Asian sports delegations.

As of 10 PM on December 10th (Vietnam time), the host country Thailand's sports delegation led the overall medal standings with 18 gold medals, 12 silver medals, and 9 bronze medals.

Indonesia finished second with 4 gold medals, 8 silver medals, and 7 bronze medals. The Vietnamese sports delegation came in third with 4 gold medals, 3 silver medals, and 14 bronze medals. The first gold medal for the Vietnamese sports delegation was won by the pair of athletes Nguyen Thi Huong and Diep Thi Huong in the women's 500m double canoeing event.

The Vietnamese Taekwondo team won the gold medal in the creative team poomsae event (Photo: Khoa Nguyen).

The second gold medal in Taekwondo, in the creative team poomsae event, was won thanks to the combined efforts of martial artists Le Tran Kim Uyen, Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Tran Dang Khoa, Tran Ho Duy, Nguyen Thi Y Binh, and Nguyen Phan Khanh Han.

Swimmer Tran Hung Nguyen brought home the third gold medal in the men's 200m individual medley (Photo: Khoa Nguyen).

Swimmer Tran Hung Nguyen won the third gold medal in the men's 200m individual medley, and Nguyen Van Dung won the fourth gold medal in the men's individual shooting petanque event.

Following the Vietnamese sports delegation were Singapore (3 gold medals, 2 silver medals, 3 bronze medals), Myanmar (2 gold medals, 4 silver medals, 1 bronze medal), Malaysia (2 gold medals, 2 silver medals, 8 bronze medals), Philippines (1 gold medal, 1 silver medal, 9 bronze medals), and Laos (1 gold medal, 1 silver medal, 6 bronze medals).

Currently, two sports delegations have not won any gold medals: Brunei (1 silver, 1 bronze) and Timor Leste (1 bronze). The Cambodian sports delegation is not included in the overall medal standings as they have withdrawn all their athletes.

Notably, on the opening day of the 33rd SEA Games, the organizing committee of host country Thailand continued to allow a series of incidents to occur, causing frustration among the sports delegations from Southeast Asian countries.

The schedule for the 3x3 basketball event at the SEA Games 33 on the morning of December 10th became the focus of criticism when the organizing committee continued to make mistakes by displaying the wrong national flags for most of the participating teams.

The organizers displayed the wrong national flags for Malaysia, Laos, the Philippines, and Vietnam (Screenshot).

In the information board displayed at the 3x3 basketball arena (men's and women's), the national flags for the matches between Malaysia and Laos, Philippines and Vietnam, and Thailand and Vietnam did not match the country names.

This is not the first time the host country has made a mistake in identifying the countries in the early days of the Games. Previously, they confused the flags of Vietnam and Laos in the women's futsal schedule, and displayed the wrong flags and territories when introducing the countries during the opening ceremony on December 9th.

The process of updating the medal standings was also very slow and unprofessional. As of 10 PM on December 10th - the first official day of competition at the Games - the Vietnamese delegation had won 21 medals, including 4 gold, 3 silver, and 14 bronze. However, on the official website, the Organizing Committee only displayed Vietnam winning 2 gold, 3 silver, and 12 bronze medals.

The medal standings are updated very slowly by the organizing committee (Screenshot).

On the first day of competition, many Southeast Asian sports delegations were also disappointed when their athletes were unfairly treated in the finals and unfortunately lost gold medals to the host country, Thailand.

A prime example is Vietnamese MMA fighter Pham Van Nam, who broke down in tears after suffering an unfair defeat in the 56 kg weight class against his Thai opponent in the final on the evening of December 10th, despite controlling almost the entire match.

Vietnamese athletes Nguyen Trong Phuc and Nguyen Thi Kim Ha almost collapsed as soon as they left the mat after the final match against Singapore (Photo: Khoa Nguyen).

The Vietnamese taekwondo team, consisting of athletes Nguyen Trong Phuc and Nguyen Thi Kim Ha, also suffered unfair refereeing decisions and lost the gold medal to the Singaporean pair in the mixed doubles creative poomsae final on the afternoon of December 10th. The Vietnamese taekwondo team subsequently filed a complaint against the referees with the organizing committee, but it was unsuccessful.

At the same time that the Vietnamese team was appealing against the referee's decisions, the Philippine team also expressed dissatisfaction with the referee's decisions. The Philippines were the team that lost to Singapore in the semi-finals.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/bang-xep-hang-huy-chuong-va-lien-tiep-su-co-o-ngay-mo-man-sea-games-33-20251210222637706.htm