Powerhouses Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam were the big winners as the 12th ASEAN Para Games Cambodia 2023 overall standings remained unchanged and competition enters the penultimate stage tomorrow.
Strong performances in four sports gave Indonesia the upper hand over its rivals, bagging 28 gold medals in athletics, powerlifting, chess and swimming to remain at the top.
With only one day of competition left before the curtains come down on the Games on Friday (9 June), Indonesia looked set for its third consecutive overall title of the Games after victories in 2017 in Kuala Lumpur and 2022 in Solo.
Thailand, the overall title winner in 2009, 2011 and 2015 are currently trailing behind the leader, but are well ahead of third and fourth-placed Vietnam and Malaysia respectively.
Of the 105 gold medals at stake, Indonesia hauled a total of 75 medals with 28 gold, 37 silvers and 12 bronzes. Powerlifters Atmaji Priambodo, Sriyanti Sriyanti and Ni Nengah Widiasih contributed two gold each in their respective categories while sprinter Eko Saputra clinched his second personal gold medal (men’s 200m T12) to steer athletics with a 10-gold haul, while swimming ended the day with 5 gold and one from Sitting Volleyball (women’s team).
Thailand finished off strongly with 19 gold to stay on the second spot with 12 golds in para-athletics while swimming contributed 5 gold.
Thailand’s men’s and women’s clinched both the two gold medals contested in Team 5×5. The men’s squad beat the Philippines 68-30 while the women’s team defeated host Cambodia 66-26.
Vietnam remained in third after emerging second best in today’s medal haul with 23 gold, 15 silvers, and 19 bronzes.
Ten gold medals from para-athletics, all from field events, assured Vietnam its third spot as it continue to pull away well ahead of its closest rival, Malaysia.
Vietnam swimmers were again in their elements, winning 11 gold medals from the Morodok Swimming complex with Vi Thi Hang clinching two in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB6 and women’s 50m freestyle S7, while para chess contributed two gold in the women’s individual standard chess VI-BI and women’s team standard chess VI-BI.
Philippines and Malaysia had an identical gold collection of nine each today while Myanmar had seven in the bag, followed by three each by Cambodia and Singapore.
Host Cambodia had powerlifter Kong Sela to thank following his two-gold feat in the Men’s Up to 107kg and Men’s Up to 107kg (Total Lift) events at the NPCC Hall to increase its overall gold medal collection to eight.
A total of 390 gold, 380 silvers and 347 bronze medal have been won so far with with another 57 more gold medals at stake on the penultimate day of competition tomorrow (June 8).
Para swimming offers the biggest number with 23 gold while Para Table Tennis final tomorrow offers 19 gold medals. Nine gold are up for grabs in badminton, goalball has two gold at stake and one gold each in blind football, boccia, CP Football and Sitting Volleyball. https://games.cambodia2023.com/#schedule
