Finishing straight: Do Thi Thao heads for the finish line to bag her second title at this SEA Games. — VNS Photos Quang Thang

HA NOI (VNS) — Do Thi Thao and Duong Van Thai completed their doubles, while the quartet runner broke a 24-year-old record in the women's 4x400m relay.

Yesterday morning, rowers made a bang with four titles on Marina Channel, and Nguyen Thi Anh Vien closed her competition with the eighth gold medal.

Those have so far been the best result of Viet Nam on the sixth day of the 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Singapore.

Thai grabbed her second gold medal in the women's 1,500m event. She had no worthy rival on the race, and she left her competitors far behind before finishing with a time of 4min 28.39sec.

Her first title came for the 800m event on Wednesday.

Her teammate Nguyen Thi Phuong finished second, in 4:31.59, followed by Thet Phyu War of Myanmar, in 4:33.25.

"I'm really satisfied with my result today, although I did not break a record set by my senior teammate Truong Thanh Hang. Phuong and I ran very well and we secured the top two positions," Thao said.

Thai's second gold yesterday was for men's 1,500m.

Oarsome: Dam Van Hieu and Nguyen Dinh Huy celebrate their victory in the men's pairs 500m rowing event.

Thai strongly sprinted to the finish line when some 300m were left. He gave no chance to Filippino Guarte Mervin and Yaprajan Yothin of Thailand who ran ahead of him for most of the race.

Thai finished the race in 3:47.04, his personal best, and claimed another gold medal. His first gold on Wednesday was in the 800m category.

Thai, however, was not really satisfied with his result, saying the gold was just okay as with such a result, he cannot reach the Asian tournaments.

Soon after them, Nguyen Thi Oanh, Nguyen Thi Thuy, Quach Thi Lan, and Nguyen Thi Huyen got their sweet revenge by defeating Thailand in the 4x400m event.

The Vietnamese went ahead from the start and took the lead until the finish line.

They won with a time of 3:35.53, setting a new height at the Games.

"We lost to Thailand in the previous SEA Games, partly due to my poor health then. This year, we did well and are happy with the victory," Oanh said, her eyes filled with tears.

"Thanks to my teammates who set a good gap between the other rivals, I was the last one and I just ran and ran, ignoring everything around. I feel happy and proud that we have won," Huyen said.

Revealing the secret of his team's success, Coach Nguyen Trong Ho said, "After several losses, I learnt my lessons and rearranged the team. Today, all of them are at their peak. Their results can win us a bronze medal in the Asian Games."

‘Viet Nam swimming queen' is what Singapore media calls Nguyen Thi Anh Vien for her outstanding performance.

The ‘little mermaid' from Can Tho Province completed her tournament with a gold medal in women's 200m butterfly pool.

It is the only event that Vien has won without setting a record.

The 19-year-old participated in 13 individual events and bagged eight gold, one silver, one bronze, apart from setting eight records.

Vien and Singapore's Joseph Schooling are two candidates for the Most Valuable Player award of the Games.

Olympics is Vien's next target.

"I want to swim in the 400m IM and 400m freestyle finals at Rio Olympics. These are my two best points," she said.

This morning Nguyen Van Linh won the first gold medal for Viet Nam. It is also the first one for the rowing team in the Southeast Asian Games being held in Singapore.

Linh finished the men's lightweight single 500m event with a time of 1min and 33.64 seconds. Isadi Ardi of Indonesia came second, followed by Saensuk Jaruwat of Thailand.

Soon after Linh, Viet Nam bagged three more gold and two silver medals at eight events held this morning.

Dam Van Hieu and Nguyen Dinh Huy came first in the men's pair 500m event. The duo left all rivals behind to finish with a time of 1:27.63.

Indonesians Santoso Budi and Hadid Tanzil finished second 1.88sec later. Myanmar's rowers San Myint and Hlam Saw Wai were placed third.

The women's double 500m title also went to Viet Nam's Le Thi An and Pham Thi Hue, who finished with a time of 1:38.87. The runners-up were again from Indonesia and Myanmar, respectively.

Earlier, Ta Thanh Huyen and Pham Thi Thao triumphed in the women's lightweight double 500m pool.

They finished nearly 4sec faster than Myanmar's Win Nilar and Latt Shwe Zin, and more than 8sec faster than Yuniarty Yuniarty and Wahyuni Wahyuni of Indonesia.

Viet Nam also won two silver medals in the men's lightweight double 500m and men's lightweight four 500m events.

In other sports, Hoang Xuan Vinh won his first title at this year's SEA Games in the men's 50m pistol, scoring 190.9 points.

Earlier, Vinh and teammates Tran Quoc Cuong and Nguyen Hoang Phuong pocketed a silver medal in the team event.

Trio Trieu Thi Hoa Hong, Le Thi Hoang Ngoc and Pham Thi Ha ranked third in the women's team 25m pistol event, behind Thailand and Singapore. Ngoc entered the final of the individual event.

In the medal tally, Singapore are still on top with 66 gold, Viet Nam are second with 57, followed by Thailand with 55. — VNS