On the afternoon of May 16, 2023, on the final day of the 32nd SEA Games, the Vietnamese fencing team "closed the book" with a gold medal in the men's team sabre event. This is the first time in the history of the SEA Games that Vietnamese fencing has won gold in this event.
Men's Fencing Team Final between Vietnam (right) and Singapore
There was a time when Vietnam (right) was led quite far.
Vietnam's road to the final is very difficult.
The Vietnamese men's fencing team consists of four athletes: Cao Minh Duyet, Pham Quoc Tai, Nguyen Van Hai and Nguyen Minh Quang. The road to the finals for the Vietnamese fencing team was not easy and they won many times by comebacks. First was the 45-40 comeback win over Thailand in the qualifying round. Then came the comeback win over Malaysia with a very close score of 45-43.
In the final, the athletes continued to do the unbelievable when they were led by Singapore 30-17, but they came back to equalize 30-30 and then surpassed to the finish line.
"This sword is a combination of saber and 3-edged sword. It takes longer to master the moves than saber. Our path to the finals was extremely difficult. The men's team sword event has always been very difficult for us, the competition is very high, it can be said to be the most difficult of all events. This is the first time we have won a gold medal in this event," said fencer Nguyen Minh Quang.
The players shook hands with their opponents after the final match.
The coaching staff is very happy because this is the gold medal they have been waiting for for 20 years.
Before that, the players also competed in the men's singles fencing event but all suffered unfortunate defeats. This also became the motivation for the whole team to concentrate on the team event.
"We had previously failed in the individual event, so this also caused us psychological problems, but we have been practicing together for a long time. I have practiced this sport for 16 years and have participated in many SEA Games, so this time we are all very determined," said fencer Pham Quoc Tai.
There were times when the Vietnamese fencing team let their opponents lead by quite a distance, but with nothing to lose, the Vietnamese fencers still encouraged each other to stay mentally relaxed and continue to nurture hope.
"When we lost badly, I just encouraged my teammates to keep playing, no matter what the result was in the end," said fencer Nguyen Minh Quang.
The fencers hugged each other to celebrate after the victory.
Fencers on the podium receiving medals
Vietnam's first gold medal in men's fencing team
At the 32nd SEA Games, the Vietnamese fencing team won a total of 4 gold medals, 1 less than the 31st SEA Games at home. However, for athlete Vu Thanh An, he still considers this an extremely successful tournament.
"I consider this SEA Games to be an extremely successful one for Vietnamese fencing, not in terms of the number of gold medals but in terms of our success in team events. There are events that we had to wait many years to win. This shows that we have made progress and surpassed ourselves.
After 20 years, I finally won a gold medal in the men's team fencing event. This was a big surprise. After 20 years of waiting, success came thanks to the thorough, professional preparation and great courage of my teammates. Even though we were the underdogs, we still worked together step by step to improve, and I was personally very impressed with that," said Vu Thanh An.
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