SEA Games on December 10th: Vietnam 'opens the scoring' with a gold medal.

Following the opening ceremony of the 33rd SEA Games , sports delegations from the region began the official competition day of the Games. The Vietnamese sports delegation competed in 16 sports, with high hopes of winning gold medals.

Jujitsu is highly likely to bring home the first gold medal for the Vietnamese delegation , with six finals in the men's 62kg, men's 72kg, women's 52kg, women's 63kg, and mixed doubles (Duo Show) categories. The greatest hope rests on judoka Dao Hong Son (men's 62kg category), who won two gold medals at the SEA Games 31 and 32 and is currently the world champion.

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Jujitsu fighter Dao Hong Son is the Vietnamese team's hope for a gold medal.

Taekwondo is also predicted to win a gold medal on the opening day. The traditional Korean martial art will take place from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM with 4 final (demonstration) events.

Taekwondo's Poomsae (forms) is a strong point for Vietnam in regional competitions. Vietnam's hopes for gold medals in taekwondo include Nguyen Thien Phung (a 7-time world champion and 5-time SEA Games gold medalist), Kim Ha, Kim Ngan, and others.

At 9:00 AM, Vietnamese swimmers competed in the swimming events. On the first day of competition, the Vietnamese swimming team competed in the men's 200m individual medley, women's 200m butterfly, men's 100m freestyle, women's 50m breaststroke, men's 100m backstroke, and women's 4x100m freestyle relay.

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Tran Nguyen Hung promises to shine at the 33rd SEA Games.

If they qualify, the Vietnamese athletes will compete in the finals starting at 6 PM on the same day. Experts believe Tran Hung Nguyen is capable of defending his gold medal in his strongest event, the 200m individual medley. In addition, swimmer Luong Jeremie Loic Nimo, who has both Vietnamese and French heritage, will be a "dark horse" in the men's 100m freestyle.

Also on the opening day, if they perform well, Vietnamese rowers could win gold medals in four events. The pétanque event has four events, starting at 9 am and ending with the finals at 5 pm. A gold medal is expected, especially after Vietnamese athletes defeated Thailand, the world champions, in France.

In cycling, cyclist Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang will compete in the women's downhill event at 9:30 AM, hoping to spring a surprise. Similarly, in chess, Vietnam will compete in the Thai chess (Oval) event.

On December 10th, the Vietnamese delegation also competed in the following sports: Men's baseball (qualifying round), 3x3 basketball (qualifying round), boxing (qualifying round), gymnastics (qualifying round), men's and women's handball (qualifying round), Sailing (qualifying round), tennis (qualifying round), women's volleyball (group stage, against Myanmar), and MMA (qualifying round).

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