Hanoi (VNA) - Nguyen Thi Huyen took home a gold medal from the AsianAthletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India on July 8.

Huyen finished first in the final round of the women’s 400m hurdle with a timeof 56.14secs.

Indian Anu Raghavan took the silver with a time of 57.22secs, while Sayaka Aokiof Japan grabbed the bronze medal with a time of 58.18secs.

With this result, Huyen broke her Southeast Asian (SEA) Games’ record of56.15secs, which she set in 2015 in Singapore.

The Asian gold medal is an important milestone to mark her return to theline-up of best Vietnamese athletes.

At the 28th SEA Games in Singapore two years ago, Huyen won three golds inthe 400m, 400m hurdles, and 4×400m relay while setting game records in thelatter two events. Her results in these games gave her two individualqualifying times for the 2015 World Athletics Championship and the 2016 RioOlympic Games.

After that, she didn’t play well and was ousted from the list of athletes inwhich the National Sports Administration invests.

Recently, she proved herself once again by winning two gold medals in theSingapore Open Track & Field Championships in April, in the 400m and 400mhurdles category.

Earlier, Bui Thi Thao won a gold medal in the women’s long jump with a resultof 6.54m. Thao, who bagged two gold medals with her marks of 6.41m and 6.58m atthe Asian Grand Prix in May, fouled four jumps but her opening leap of 6.54mwas enough for her to make it to the top podium.

In other news, Quach Thi Lan also brought home a silver medal in the women’s400m division with a time 52.78 secs.

Lan, born in the central province of Thanh Hoa, recorded her best achievementin this category with 52.06secs, earning a silver medal in the Asian Games inIncheon, the Republic of Korea in 2014.

At the recent Asian Grand Prix held in China, Lan took a gold medal with a timeof 53.15secs.

The Indian event has attracted some 800 athletes from 45 countries andterritories.-VNA