Viet Nam wins 11th ticket to Paris Games

Linh on June 2 defeated Viitanen Vilma of Finland 4-1 in the semi-finals of the women's 60kg of the second Olympic Qualification Tournament of boxing in Bangkok, Thailand.

As a decisive match that decided a spot at the upcoming Olympics, both Linh and Vilma opened strong attacks from the beginning. However, it was the Vietnamese SEA Games champion who took charge of the match.

She pushed Vilma to play in defense in most of time. After three rounds, all judges agreed to give a win to Linh, meaning that she would participate in the Olympics for the first time in career.

Earlier in this tournament, Linh overcame Ana Starovoitova of Lithuania in the first round. She beat Pineiro Paola from Uruguay in the second round. Later, she came from behind to defeat Sara Beram of Croatia in the quarter-finals.

She suffered a loss to Agnes Alexiusson of Sweden in the semi-finals.

Linh is the second Vietnamese boxer in Paris after Vo Thi Kim Anh in the women's 54kg category. At age 31, Linh is the oldest among 11 athletes of Viet Nam at the Games.

Other Olympic qualifiers are badminton players Nguyen Thuy Linh and Le Duc Phat, markswomen Trinh Thu Vinh and Le Thi Mong Tuyen, swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang, cyclist Nguyen Thi That, weightlifter Trinh Van Vinh, canoeist Nguyen Thi Huong and rower Pham Thi Hue.

Linh, born in 1993, is a Tay ethnic minority woman. She left Lao Cai Province to practise boxing in Ha Noi when she was 12. Three years later, she became a pro athlete. Linh won gold for Viet Nam at the SEA Games 2013 and 2023.

The Olympic qualifications of different sports are still ongoing. Viet Nam expects to have more qualified athletes in archery, judo, swimming and athletics./.