Vietnam top Southeast Asian Games with 136 golds

The 32nd Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) wrapped up in Cambodia’s Phnom Penh Wednesday night with Vietnam having secured 136 gold medals to top the region’s biggest biennial sports event.

Vietnam bagged 355 medals in total, including 105 silvers and 114 bronzes. Thailand came second with 108 golds, 96 silvers, and 109 bronzes; or 313 medals.

Indonesia ranked third with 276 medals, comprised of 87 golds, 80 silvers, and 109 bronzes; followed by hosts Cambodia with 282 medals (81 golds, 74 silvers, and 127 bronzes).

The Philippines came fifth, while from sixth to eleventh were Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, Brunei, and Timor Leste, respectively.

The Vietnamese women’s football team under 72-year-old Vietnamese coach Mai Duc Chung clinched the championship title. This is their fourth victory in a row and their eighth time in the SEA Games history. The women’s squad will compete in the FIFA World Cup 2023 for women hosted by New Zealand this July.

However, the Vietnamese men’s football team failed to defend their title as the defending champions lost 2-3 to Indonesia in the semifinals. Then they beat Myanmar 3-1 on Tuesday to take the bronze. Indonesia defeated Thailand 5-2 in the final the same day also in Phnom Penh, with seven red cards shown to players and the coaching groups of both sides.

Ill-tempered men from both teams fought against each other twice on the touchline late in the final and lots of security officials became involved to calm down the situation.

In the 31st SEA Games hosted in Hanoi in May 2022 (instead of 2021 due to the pandemic), the Vietnamese men’s football team beat Thailand 1-0 in the final. It was also the score the Vietnamese women won their Thai opponents.

Before the two-week 2023 competitions started in Cambodia, Vietnam expected a top-three finish with a maximum 120 golds. However, they finished on top with 136 gold medals. Notably, female runner Nguyen Thi Oanh secured four golds in all of her four distances registered.

However, in all track and field competitions, Thailand were still the region’s powerhouse.

As for Vietnam, victories in martial arts, wrestling, diving, and aerobics on the last four days of the Games enabled them to leave second-placed Thailand far behind on the final medal table: 136 golds for the Vietnamese versus 108 for the Thais.

Thailand will host the 33rd SEA Games in December 2025.