Easy wins propels Minh into third round

Viet Nam's top player, Nguyen Tien Minh, has qualified for the third round in the Yonex Chinese Taipei Open 2013 after defeating Yang Sheng-Jie in straight sets in the second round.

Defending champion and No 1 seed Minh needed only 30 minutes to see off the home player with a score of 21-15, 21-14.

The HCM City-based player, 30, had previously beaten another host player in the first round, crushing Yang Chih Hsun 21-8, 21-8 in a match lasting only for 23 minutes.

Minh, who won the championship last year, will next play Zulkiffli Zulfadli of Malaysia in the third round. Minh emerged as the winner in the only encounter between two players at the Australian Open Grand Prix in 2010.

Vietnam to play friendly with Qatar

The national squad will play a friendly match with Qatar at Al-Sadd stadium in Doha on October 9.

This game is considered to be a useful warm up for both teams, before their third qualifying round of the Asian Cup 2015.

Vietnamese players will gather in early October and have a one-week training session before flying to Qatar on October 7.

After the friendly game, they will stay on in Qatar for more training and fly to Uzbekistan on October 12 for an Asian Cup qualifying clash against their hosts three days later.

Vietnam sails through to Shuttlecock Champ semi-finals

Vietnam’s women’s trios on September 4 earned places in the semi-finals of the ongoing 7th World Shuttlecock Championship (WSC) held in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap.

In the women’s trio, Vietnam easily defeated Hong Kong and Italy with the same score of 2-0, topping Group A. Hong Kong and Italy will play to define the second ticket to the semi-finals.

Group B saw both Macau and China enter the semi-finals after their victories over Hungary and France. However, Macau and China will play another game to define group winners.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s men’s trio stayed atop group C after defeating Australia and Germany, qualifying for the quarter-finals.

China (Group A winners), Hong Kong (Goup B winners) and Hungary (Group C winners) also cruised into the quarter-finals.

The four other quarter finalists will be the winners of the following matches: Macau vs Italy, Singapore vs France, Germany vs Australia and Taiwan vs Finland.

Int’l rugby tournament marks Vietnam-UK relations

Rugby players from Hanoi, Bangkok and Laos will join the London 2013 Olympic Legacy International Friendship Rugby Tournament at Hanoi’s Hang Day Stadium on September 7.

The competition will feature rugby and touch rugby matches amongst Hanoi’s top touch football clubs and junior teams, as well as a live performance by Birla Orphanage.

The event, organized by the British Embassy and the Hanoi Dragons Rugby Union Football Club, aims to commemorate the first anniversary of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

650 Vietnamese athletes to compete at SEA Games 27

As many as 650 Vietnamese athletes will compete at 30 out of 33 events at the coming SEA Games 27.

Although many events of Vietnam’s strength have been removed from this year’s list, the country still aims to remains among the top three, and this means the athletes will have to strive for around 70 gold medals.

The Games, to be held in December in Myanmar, will have 460 sets of medals at stake.