The sixth ASEAN Para Games officially opened on Dec. 15 in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia.
Based
in Manahan Stadium, the city’s largest sports arena, the opening
ceremony was highlighted by displays of traditional and contemporary
Javanese dances. One dance involved 100 dancers wearing batik.
The event attracted about 2,000 athletes with mobility and visual disabilities from ASEAN nations.
They
took part in 11 categories, such as athletics, power lifting, swimming,
archery, table tennis, wheelchair tennis, chess, badminton, goalball,
and bowling.
The bi-annual event is held following every
Southeast Asian Games. A 119-member squad of Vietnamese athletes will
compete in seven events. They will compete in track and field,
badminton, weightlifting, swimming, table tennis, chess, and tennis.
At
the event in Kuala Lumpur two years ago, Vietnam bagged 73 gold, 57
silver and 45 bronze medals to rank third in the medal tally.
Swimmers
Nguyen Thi Hao and Le Tuan Dat won gold medals and set new Asian
records in the women’s and men’s 50m breaststroke, while Nguyen Thi Sa
Ri was voted as the best female athlete of the Games.
Vo Hoang Anh Khoa and Le Thi Dung also set two ASEAN Para Games records in the men’s 50m butterfly and women’s 200m freestyle./.
