HA NOI — Weight lifter Thach Kim Tuan triumphed in the men's 56kg class to take the first gold for Viet Nam at the Youth Olympics in Singapore on Sunday.
Tuan outclassed Chinese Xie Jiawu in his final lift to win the gold with a total lift of 256kg, surpassing his Chinese rival just only 2kg.
It was the first ever gold for Tuan at a global competition following his gold at the regional Asian Youth Championship last year.
Last year, the HCM City-born athlete also won a hattrick of silver medals with his 207kg total lift in the men's 56kg division at the World Youth Weight lifting Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The 16-year-old fought back to win the gold as he trailed China's Xie in the snatch with 116kg, 1kg less than Xie.
However, Tuan completed the clean and jerk with a lift of 140kg, while Xie just succeeded with 137kg lift.
Earlier, Tuan's teammate Nguyen Thi Hong failed to win bronze medal when she finished fourth in the women's 48kg class.
New Zealand yesterday picked up its first gold medal when Aaron Barclay won the men's triathlon at the ongoing Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.
He finished in 54min 41sec, followed by American Kevin McDowell and Alois Knable of Austria.
Meanwhile on Sunday the Iranian girls' football team finally had the chance to talk about something other than their uniforms at the Youth Olympics.
After days of fielding questions about their hats and leggings, Iran beat Papua New Guinea 1-0 with a goal in the second half.
On the pitch, Iran's first victory in the six-team tournament keeps its medal hopes alive.
"It's so good because my team will go to the second round," said Fatemeh Ardestani, who scored the goal after slotting in a rebound. "My federation worked so hard and now we are here."
Mozafar said she hoped Iran would give the girls' team more resources.
"This is an international victory and very important for me, my players and the (football) federation," Mozafar said. I think the federation must know now that girls' football in Iran needs more support and will get better in the future. This is a really big step for us."
Earlier, Iranian athlete Mohammad Soleimani withdrew from the boys taekwondo final against Israel's Gili Haimovitz on the first full day of competition.
The Iranian delegation said Soleimani aggravated an injury and was taken to a hospital for treatment, meaning he was unable to face Haimovitz or attend the medal ceremony.
Haimovitz said he was happy to have won gold. His victory was Israel's first gold medal of the Games, a 12-day event which will feature 3,600 athletes ages 14 to 18 from 204 national Olympic committees competing in 26 sports across Singapore. — AP/VNS
