Half of Vietnamese athletes eliminated from 2024 Olympics

The official competition day on Friday, August 1, saw two more Vietnamese athletes eliminated, archers Le Quoc Phong and Do Thi Anh Nguyet. Quoc Phong lost 0-6 to Dan Olaru (Moldova), while Anh Nguyet narrowly lost 5-6 to Mobina Fallah (Iran) in the round of 32 of the individual slingshot. Previously, the two Vietnamese archers also only ranked 24th in the mixed slingshot doubles event.

The result caused Vietnamese archery to stop in all three events it participated in. Before these two athletes, six representatives of the delegation stopped, namely Le Duc Phat, Nguyen Thuy Linh (badminton), Vo Thi Kim Anh, Ha Thi Linh (boxing), Hoang Thi Tinh (judo) and Le Thi Mong Tuyen (shooting) were eliminated.

Vietnam still has eight representatives at the 2024 Olympics, of which only seven have a chance to compete for medals, as Pham Thi Hue can only achieve the highest result of 19th place in the women's heavyweight single sculls rowing. Experts believe that two athletes have a chance to bring home medals for the team, namely Trinh Thu Vinh (shooting) and Trinh Van Vinh (weightlifting).

Thu Vinh will shoot the final event of the women's 25m pistol today, August 2, in the qualifying round at 2:00 p.m. Hanoi time. Each shooter will shoot 60 rounds, including 30 slow-fire rounds and 30 fast-fire rounds. Only the top eight shooters in the qualifying round will advance to the final round tomorrow, August 3.

The only representative of the delegation in athletics, Tran Thi Nhi Yen, also competed today in the women's 100m qualifying round, at 3:43 p.m. This round has 36 athletes competing, divided into four heats of nine people each. The top three finishers in each heat and the five fastest runners in the remaining group will advance to the first round - where 56 athletes will be entered directly. Nhi Yen's career best is 11.40 seconds, and if she maintains this result, she will continue.

The only female swimmer in the team, Vo Thi My Tien, will also swim the women's 200m individual medley qualifying round at 4:14 p.m. today. There are 34 athletes participating in the qualifying round of this event, with the 16 with the best results entering the semi-finals. My Tien will compete in the second round of five rounds.

Pham Thi Hue will also close her 2024 Olympic journey today, when she competes for 19th place in the women's heavyweight single sculls rowing at 3:30 p.m.

The 2024 Olympics have 16 official competition days, of which six have already passed. China leads the overall standings for the second day in a row, with 11 gold, 7 silver, and 6 bronze medals. Rival USA, after days of competition, had to stay out of the Top 5, gradually accelerating to second place with 9 gold, 15 silver, and 13 bronze medals.

The United States won four gold medals on August 1, thanks to Kate Douglass (women's 200m breaststroke), Simone Biles (women's all-around gymnastics), Lee Kiefer, Lauren Scrubbs, Jacquelin Dubrovich, Maia Mei Weintraub (women's team fencing), and Justin Best, Nick Mead, Michael Grady, Liam Corrigan (men's quadruple sculls).

Meanwhile, China won two more gold medals, from Yang Jiayu (women's 20km walk) and Liu Yukun (men's 50m three-position rifle shooting). They are expected to continue competing with the US for the top two positions in the remaining days of the standings.

As of August 1, 50 delegations had won at least one medal at the Paris Olympics, but there was still no representative from Southeast Asia.

Thailand has many events in the quarterfinals, such as Kunlavut Vitidsarn (men's singles badminton), Ratchanok Intanon (women's singles badminton), Chuthamat Raksat and Janjaem Suwannapheng (women's singles boxing). Indonesia also has Gregoria Mariska Tunjung who has reached the women's singles badminton quarterfinals, meeting Intanon herself.

Meanwhile, Malaysia are even closer to a medal, with Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik reaching the men's doubles semi-finals, while Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan are through to the women's doubles semi-finals, both against China. Also in this sport, Singapore's Loh Kean Yew has reached the men's singles quarter-finals, although he will face defending champion Viktor Axelsen.

The Philippines also has at least two representatives in the boxing quarterfinals, Carlo Paalam (men's featherweight) and Aira Villegas (women's flyweight). Star Carlos Yulo also has two gymnastics finals left, vault and floor exercise. He is a former world champion in both events.