KUALA LUMPUR – Vietnamese sprint queen Le Tu Chinh’s hopes of achieving a hat-trick of women’s 100m SEA Games gold medals on home soil have been dashed after suffering an injury during training two weeks ago.
According to the Vietnam News Agency, the 25-year-old sprinter has been ruled of the biennial Games, scheduled from May 12 to 23, after tearing her meniscus during training in Ho Chi Minh (HCM) city.
“I sent her to different hospitals in HCM city and Hanoi for tests. Doctors said she needs surgery and she will not compete in the Hanoi SEA Games,” her coach Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong was quoted as saying.
Le shot to stardom when she made her SEA Games debut at the 2017 edition in Kuala Lumpur, winning the women’s 100m, 200m and 4x100m titles. However, she only managed to defend the blue ribbon gold medal at the 2019 Philippines SEA Games by clocking 11.54s – an improvement of 0.02s from the previous Games.
In the Philippines, Le had to settle for silver in 200m after clocking 23.45s as the hosts’ naturalised sprinter Kristina Knott took the gold with a new Games record of 23.01s. In the 4x100m, Le had to be contented with a bronze.
Meanwhile, hosts Vietnam are targeting 15 to 17 gold medals in the hope of winning the overall track and field title for a third consecutive time after their haul of 17-11-6 in Kuala Lumpur and 16-12-10 in the Philippines. – Bernama, April 29, 2022
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