A dramatic final at the Morodok Techo National Stadium in Cambodia's capital saw Dapbang cross the line in 20.62sec.

The 20-year-old was followed by silver medallist Ngoc Nghia Ngan of Vietnam and Indonesia's third-placed Lalu Zohri, who clocked in with respective times of 20.84 and 21.02, respectively.

"I am grateful for this result, because it is the first time I ran the 200m outside of the country," said the 2018 World U20 Championships 100m gold medallist Zohri.

"I had a nagging thigh injury, which is why I was bandaged up and it was worrying in the beginning, but I managed to complete the race.

"The weather was also bothering me a bit, but this was a good warm up for the 100m."

Teen sensation Puripol Boonson's title defence took a fatal blow as he pulled up with a hamstring injury in the final 50m.

Dapbang's compatriot had won won 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay golds at Hanoi 2021 when only 15-years-old but decided to forfeit the chance of another win in the hope of not worsening the injury.

"I was in great form coming into the SEA Games and I was confident of taking the gold medal having qualified well," said Boonson, who is now 17. 

"I had started the race well, but in the final 50m I felt my hamstring pop, so I decided to just drop down and not aggravate the injury.

"I am devasted, but I will get back from this hopefully in time to prepare well for the Asian Games."

Kieran Tuntivate clinched another athletics gold for Thailand as he triumphed in the men's 1500m ahead of Vietnam's Luong Duc Phuoc and Wahyudi Putra of Indonesia.

Cambodia are still in pole position in the medals table with 37 golds, while Vietnam and Thailand are closest in pursuit with 30 and 28, respectively.