• Vietnam’s sports delegation heading for 2012 London Olympics

• UK Ambassador meets Vietnamese athletes to London Olympics

With her berth at the world’s largest sporting event, Van Ngoc Tu is the first Vietnamese judo artist in 16 years to participate in the Olympics.

Her first round loss to No. 2 seed Menezes was not a big surprise as Tu had failed to move further in regional and international events such as the World Cup and Grand Slam in 2011.

In the same category, Tomoko Fukumi from Japan beat Spain’s Oiana Blanco, while Mestre from Cuba trounced Russian competitor Natalia Kondratieva.

High hopes are now pinned on other Vietnamese athletes in the shooting, gymnastics, and swimming events, who will compete in the next few hours.