Thailand on gold hunt

Regional powerhouse Thailand and a greatly improved Vietnam entered the last day of the Southeast Asian Games overnight battling neck-and-neck for the last nine golds and victory at the 11-nation event.

Thailand had 84 gold medals as morning competition began compared with Vietnam's 81.

Vietnam won golds in athletics on Thursday but lost the final of the football tournament 1-0 to Malaysia.

Indonesia was a distant third in the medals table, with 43 golds.

Up for grabs overnight were gold medals in tennis, petanque, sepak takraw and shooting, with Thailand expecting four golds on the final day to narrowly defend its 2007 SEA Games title.