After three weeks of intense competitions, the 9^th National Sports Games 2022 concluded in Quang Ninh Province on Wednesday.

In the end, Ha Noi topped the medal table with 175 gold, 143 silver and 157 bronze medals. HCM City were runners-up with 128 golds, 119 silvers and 143 bronzes. The Military team finished third with 90 golds, 82 silvers and 95 bronzes.

Meanwhile, Thanh Hoa Province came 4^th with 40 golds, 29 silvers and 63 bronzes. Da Nang won 34 golds, 42 silvers and 50 bronzes, ranking fifth in the medal tally of National Sports Games 2022.

At the event, athletes have set 28 new national records and 96 Games records, of which track and field athletes set  four national records and 15 Games records.

Most notably, Ngan Ngoc Nghia took gold medal in men’s 100m category with a time of 10.35secs, breaking the old national record of 10.40 and the Games record of 10.47, both set by him before.

Athletics was also a sport that witnessed a rare thing when in the men's pole vault event, up to three athletes successfully conquered the 4.30m bar. They were Le Van Han and Nguyen Van Hue, both from Hai Duong Province, and Tran Ba Linh from Da Nang. The organizers awarded gold medals to all three athletes.

This year's event also witnessed the impressive farewell of many veterans including swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien who won nine gold medals for the Military team before officially retiring from her competitive career to switch to coaching.

The 9^th National Sports Games was held from December 9-21 in Quang Ninh Province, the main location, and 10 other cities and provinces. This is the largest Games in history with more than 17,000 participants from 65 delegations competing in 43 sports.

The event aimed to summarise and evaluate the four-year cycle of training and development of sports in the country, thereby orienting the development of Vietnamese sports in the future.

Reporting by THANH DANH - Translating by M.DUNG