Illustrative image.— Photo: internet

HA NOI (VNS)-- Viet Nam won one gold and two bronze medals at the Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships in Thailand.

The gold went to HCM City's young talent Pham Phuoc Den in the U17 boys' epee event after he defeated strong rivals from mainland China and Hong Kong.

The two bronzes were secured by Nguyen Xuan Loi in the U20 boys' sabre and by the U20 boys' sabre team, which included Loi, Van Tien, Duc Anh and Quoc Oai.

"This result shows the great effort made by these Vietnamese fencers in a year when the amount of athletes increased significantly. There were 800 fencers from 35 teams, so competition was fierce," said national youth fencing head coach Pham Anh Tuan.

The Vietnamese team will next compete in the World Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships on April 9-15 in Croatia.

The youth fencers will also target the Asian Youth Games in Nanjing in China in August and ­the Asian Under-23 Fencing Championships in September in Kuwait. -- VNS