Sanya, China, April 30, 2026: Vietnam ended the 6th Asian Beach Games Sanya 2026 on a golden high by beating China 2-1 in a tense and thrilling women’s beach handball final at the Tianya Haijiao venue cluster on Thursday.
The gold medal was Vietnam’s third of the Games and lifted them into fourth place in the final medal rankings, behind China (24 gold), Thailand (10) and the Islamic Republic of Iran (9).
China ended the Games with a total of 55 medals comprised of 24 gold, 18 silver and 13 bronze medals.
The 24 gold medals came from dragon boat (5), sailing (5), open water swimming (3), sport climbing (3), aquathlon (3), beach athletics (2) and one apiece from water polo, 3x3 basketball and beach wrestling.
Thailand (10-9-9) finished second, ahead of Iran (9-1-0) in third place, Vietnam (3-5-5) in fourth, Philippines (3-4-2) fifth and India (3-2-1) in sixth place.
A total of 14 National Olympic Committees won gold, while 31 NOCs won at least one medal.
The 6th Asian Beach Games took place from April 22-30 with 14 sports, 15 disciplines and 62 events.
The 7th Asian Beach Games will be held in Cebu, Philippines in March 2028.