Asian Beach Games

 

 HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam beat the hosts 2-1 to win gold medal in the sixth Asian Beach Games' (ABG) women's handball tournament on April 30 in Sanya City, China.

The Chinese were the toughest rivals of the competition who received strong home support to Việt Nam, the three-time Asian champions, in the final match at the Tianya Haijiao Venue Cluster, Hainan Province.

The match was competitive from the start. Players of two sides opened strong attacks and found the back of the net of each other consecutively. Việt Nam went ahead in the last second of the first half and won 20-18.

It was the same in the second half but it was the Chinese side who took lead and leveled the score with a 21-20 result.

The final match had to be a penalty shoot-outs and the Việt Nam wrapped up their title defending campaign with a score of 9-6. Last ABG's final in 2016, Việt Nam also beat China to lift the winning trophy in Đà Nẵng City.

In the bronze medal, Thailand beat Turkmenistan to take bronze.

The handball gold was the third and the gold of the Vietnamese delegation at the Games.

With three golds, five silvers and fives bronzes, Việt Nam placed fourth in the medal tally.

China finished first with 24 golds. Thailand were second on 10 golds, followed by Iran with nine.

The next ABG, known as Cebu 2028, will be hosted by Cebu City, the Philippines, in March 2028.  This marks the first time the Philippines will host this biennial multi-sport event. Preliminary plans feature 24 sports. — VNS