Vietnamese athlete Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc.—File photo

HA NOI (VNS)- Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc brought home a silver medal at the Asian Race Walking Championships in Japan yesterday.

The 23-year-old completed her 20km race in 1hr, 35 min, 26 sec. Hosts Otoshi Kumi took the title.

Phuc's younger brother, Nguyen Thanh Ngung, finished fifth in the men's 20km event in a time of 1:27.30, breaking his own national record of 1:36.

In the same event last year, Phuc won a bronze medal.

Twenty two-year-old Phuc, who participated in an international contest for the first time at the 26th Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia in 2011, became the first Vietnamese athlete to win an Olympic place.