Taking place on a ring of sand a stone's throw from the shore, wrestlers were forced to deal with very different hazards from those they encounter indoors.

On several occasions, fights had to stop as an athlete got sand in their eye, which meant a break to throw water over their head and relieve the irritation.

On another instance, a fighter had her hair tie ripped off by a rampaging opponent and was forced to bury around in the sand until she could find it again.

These peculiarities added to the excitement, as a large crowd packed itself into the arena in the hope of home success.

They did not have long to wait.

Shouts of "Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam" blared around as Nguyen Thi Vinh won 1-0 over Thailand opponent Salinee Srisombat in the women's under 70 kilograms division before Nguyen Thi Xuan overcame Fang Kaixuan of China at under-50kg.

The best was left until last, however, as South Korea's Um Jieun and China's Sun Yazhen fought out a thrilling dual in the under-60kg final.

Um struck first after charging her opponent out of the ring before Sun responded in kind.

Both fighters were visibly tiring in the closing stages, but Chinese disappointment continued as Um was able to outlast Sun with a pin and a push to secure a 3-2 win.

Three gold medals were won even closer to the sea at the next door sambo venue.

Turkmenistan's Begli Meretgeldiyev crushed home hopes in another full arena to beat Huynh Nhat Thong in the men's under 62kg final.

Uzbekistan's Ilkhomjon Yuldashev produced a stunning throw to win within 10 seconds against Alibek Zekenov in the under 90kg event.

Solongo Baatarsaikhan of Mongolia then prevented another home victory by beating Nguyen Thi Ngoc Han in the women's under 56kg final.