Nguyen Thi Anh Vien

Viet Nam's top swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien was named one of Asia's five best female swimmers by US based Swimswam magazine on Thursday.

"This is a very precious award for Vien's tireless efforts over past year. Vien and I are very happy because it is the first time a Vietnamese athlete has been honoured on this list," said coach Dang Anh Tuan.

This year, the Swammy Award for Asian swimmers included five athletes. Kanako Watanabe of Japan topped the list, followed by Natsumi Hoshi of Japan, Zhang Yufei and Fu Yuanhui of China and Vien [Nguyen].

"Nguyen almost single-handedly carried Viet Nam to second in the medal table at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games. Her eight golds, one silver and one bronze led all female swimmers at the meet, and trailed only Joseph Schooling overall – and Nguyen did it all without the aid of any medal-winning relays, Nguyen also made Viet Nam's only semi-final at worlds, taking 15th in the 200 IM," the magazine said. — VNS