Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnamese No.1 swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang started his first competition day at the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31) on May 14 with a gold medal in the men’s 1,500m event.

Hoang finished at 15:00:57, leaving Nguyen Huu Kim Son, also from Vietnam, behind. Following the good start, Hoang is aiming for another gold in the 400m freestyle on his third competition day.

Meanwhile, fencer Nguyen Tien Nhat earned the second gold medal for Vietnamese fencing at SEA Games 31 by defeating his Philippine rival Jose Noelito 15-11.

In the men’s 70kg event of SEA Games 31’s bodybuilding, Tran Hoang Duy Thuan bagged a gold medal, raising the number of gold medals of Vietnamese bodybuilding to three. Earlier, Pham Van Mach and Dang Thanh Tung won two gold medals in the men’s 55kg and 65kg events.

Also on May 14, Vietnamese Chinese chess team won a gold in men’s fast chess team event.

At the same time, the national jujitsu team also brought home one silver and two bronze medals. Duong Thi Thanh Minh took  silver in the women’s Ne-Waza GI-48kg event, while Can Van Thang and Nguyen Ngoc Tu contributed two bronze medals in men’s Ne-Waza GI-62kg event and women’s Ne-Waza GI-62kg event, respectively. The team aims for 1-2 gold medals at SEA Games 31. 

With total score of 183.8 points, only 0.7 points lower than that of the Philippines, the Vietnamese women gymnast team won a silver medal in team event. The Singaporean team came third with 182.55 points. Gymnastics competitions will continue on May 15 at Quan Ngua Sports Palace in Hanoi./.