Nguyen Trong Cuong won the first gold medal for Viet Nam team at the Asian Taekwondo Championships in HCM City yesterday.

In the men's 87kg category, Cuong was fortunate to receive byes to the final after two opponents withdrew from the tournament. He defeated Baykuziyev Jasur of Uzbekistan 5-4 in extra time to take the gold medal.

On Wednesday, Nguyen Thanh Thao won a bronze medal in the women's 62kg event. She defeated Manalo Mariacami from the Philippines 5-2 to reach the semi-finals, but lost easily 1-13 to Chia Chia Chuang from Chinese Taipei, earning Viet Nam's only medal on the second day of the tournament.-VNS