Disabled weightlifter Le Van Cong made history for Vietnam as he crowned the men's 49kg event at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in Brazil at dawn on Friday (Vietnam time).

Le Van Cong excited after setting world record

Cong became the first-ever Vietnamese athlete to snatch a Paralympic gold medal as he completed the competition with a new world record of 183kg.

He left the silver medalist way behind, as Jordan’s Omar Qarada finished second with only 177kg. The bronze medal went to Hungarian Nandor Tunkel, who lifted 155kg.

According to the Paralympic.org website, Cong broke the Paralympic record with his first attempt at 175kg but Qarada grabbed the lead and the record back with a 177kg lift with his second attempt.

The pressure was then on Cong as he failed with his second attempt of 179kg to remain in the silver medal position going into the final round.

However, the Vietnamese lifted for the occasion with a successful 181kg effort to propel himself back into the lead and regain the Paralympic record.

Le Van Cong was born in 1986 in Ha Tinh. His legs were shrunken due to his mother’s dengue fever during pregnancy. The boy grew up in an inferiority complex because of disability. In 2005, he set off to the South with the desire to rising above the circumstance.

Cong joined classes at a vocational club for young disabled people of Ho Chi Minh city, then was introduced to an exercise program of a weightlifting club in Tan Binh district. He has an affinity for weightlifting from here and has brought about lots of accomplishment for Vietnamese disability sports delegation in the regional arena, the continent and the world.

The previous outstanding achievements of Le Van Cong includes National Silver medal in 2005, Asian Gold medal in 2007, Silver medal in World Weightlifting Championships 2007, World Silver medal in 2014, Gold medal in Asian Games 2014, Asian Gold medal in 2015./.

Ngoc Tran