Hanoi, May 20 (VNA) – Vietnam’s finswiming pioneers are aiming to claim 6-8 out of the 13 gold medals on offer at the ongoing 31st Southeast Asia Games (SEA Games 31).

When the sport was introduced at the 2003 SEA Games, Vietnam as the host swept 13 out of the 16 golds at stake, while in Laos 2009 and Indonesia 2011 took four and six golds, respectively.

Besides Thailand and the Philippines, Indonesia is growing stronger in the sport with many talented athletes, whose stats are on par with Vietnam’s top finswimmers in some categories.

According to coach of the Vietnamese finswimming team Hoang Quoc Binh, Vietnam ranks first in the sport in not only Southeast Asia but also Asia.

Binh said that Vietnam has prolific and talented finswimmers who have gained great achievements in regional and global arenas.

Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines will be Vietnam's main opponents in the sport at SEA Games 31, he said, expressing his belief that Vietnamese finswimmers can defeat their opponents.

Finswimmers like Nguyen Thanh Loc, Phan Duc Toan, Pham Thi Thu and Nguyen Thi Hang will be the hopes of Vietnam at SEA Games 31.

This year’s event will take place at the Hanoi-based My Dinh Water Sports Palace from May 21-22./.