According to the schedule published by the 31 SEA Games Organizing Committee, Nguyen Van Duong will be the first Vietnamese boxer to play on May 16. His opponent is Jose Barro Quintas Da Silva, Timor Leste. As is also one of the golden hope of Boxing Vietnam at the 31 SEA Games.
However, the unlucky thing happened to Nguyen Van Duong right before playing. During the weight and health test on the morning of May 16, Vietnamese boxers were diagnosed with Covid-19. According to the tournament rules, equipped ineligible and eliminated, yielding to the semi -finals to Da Silva.
The fact that Nguyen Van Duong could not play and was eliminated early by Covid-19 was really an unexpected incident of Vietnam Boxing team members. With the winning of SEA Games 30 gold medal and winning tickets to the Tokyo Olympic Games, it was expected to reach the Gold Medal Final.
In addition to Nguyen Van Duong, the Vietnam Boxing team also has 2 boxers on the first day of competition, Vu Thanh Dat (63kg male weight) and Bui Phuoc Tung (75kg male weight). With the match of the game, the first day of the competition only took 7 matches instead of 6 as expected.
Boxing within the 31st SEA Games takes place from May 16 to 22 at Bac Ninh Province Stadium. The boxers will compete in 11 medals. Previously, 2 contents were 69kg and 75kg of women had to cancel because there was not enough athletes to register to compete at the request of the Organizing Committee.