Nguyen Van Khanh Phong defeated the world champion in gymnastics

Athlete Le Thanh Tung was the "pioneer" in the freestyle event but failed because his leg was still sore from the injury sustained on the first day of competition, where he and his teammates won the gold medal in the men's team event. However, the athletes competing behind him did not lose confidence but instead saw Thanh Tung's not-so-smooth start as a motivation for them to be more determined.

Nguyen Van Khanh Phong with the 32nd SEA Games gold medal

Most notably, athlete Nguyen Van Khanh Phong caused a big surprise when he defeated the Filipino gymnastics prodigy Carlos Yulo, a former world champion, to win the gold medal in the rings event. This was a sweet victory for Khanh Phong, because at the 31st SEA Games, he finished second, behind Carlos Yulo. But this year, this athlete overcame the "obsession" of losing to win the gold.

"Last year, I lost to Yulo and dropped the gold medal when I landed badly. I trained hard, prepared very well and surpassed myself. The fact that Carlos Yulo competed first and got a high score also put pressure on me, but I tried to concentrate. That made me feel like I deserved this gold medal," Khanh Phong confided.

Coach Truong Minh Sang and Nguyen Van Khanh Phong

PROFICIENT

Dang Ngoc Xuan Thien is excellent.

PROFICIENT

Dinh Phuong Thanh (left) and Le Thanh Tung

Veteran athlete Dinh Phuong Thanh competed in two events, parallel bars and horizontal bars (only 15 minutes apart). Despite being very tired due to lack of time to recover, Phuong Thanh showed his class at the right time when he performed excellently in the horizontal bars to win the gold medal. Previously, in the parallel bars event, Phuong Thanh won the silver medal after losing to "prodigy" Carlos Yulo.

"This is the result of training and the support of the coaches and doctors. They quickly helped me relax my muscles between the two competitions. I competed on the horizontal bar almost without warming up because I didn't have time. In the horizontal bar competition, I didn't do as well as when I practiced. If I had time to rest and warm up, I would definitely do better," Dinh Phuong Thanh expressed.

In addition, Dang Ngoc Xuan Thien, although winning the gold medal with a perfect performance in the pommel horse event, said he was still not satisfied with his performance. The athlete born in 2002 shared: "I can do better. Before the 32nd SEA Games, I failed many times and this made me very depressed. However, the most important thing is that I brought glory to Vietnamese sports ."

Talented Filipino athlete Carlos Yulo admitted: "Vietnamese gymnasts are really strong. I tried my best, but they were really good and deserved to win. I hope to see Vietnamese athletes again at the next SEA Games."

According to Ms. Phan Thuy Linh, Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Gymnastics Federation, the current male athletes of the national gymnastics team are typical of the legacy of Vietnamese gymnastics, between a generation of older, famous athletes such as Dinh Phuong Thanh and Le Thanh Tung and a generation of young athletes with good potential to succeed such as Nguyen Van Khanh Phong and Dang Ngoc Xuan Thien.

Completing the competition program at the 32nd SEA Games, the Vietnamese gymnastics team exceeded the target when winning 4 gold medals (men's team, men's individual in the pommel horse, parallel bars, horizontal bars), 2 silver medals and a bronze medal.

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