Tottenham, Japan arrive for U19 Cup

The U19 Tottenham and U19 Japan teams arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on January 4 ahead of the upcoming Nutifood Cup (January 6–10).

U19 Tottenham consist of first and second year students from the Tottenham Football Education Academy.

Serbia’s midfielder Milos Veljkovic is otherwise occupied, selected to play in Tottenham’s third round FA Cup tie against Arsenal.

U19 Japan, coached by Suziki Masakazu, enjoy an impressive height advantage over their Vietnamese rivals.

U19 AS Roma have sent advanced scouts ahead of their arrival in HCM City on January 5.

The organising board will hold a press briefing to exchange information with participating teams.

Five teams will contest the Nutifood Cup: Vietnam’s two U19 football squads, U19 Japan, U19 AS Roma, and U19 Tottenham Hotspur.

Badminton player placed 7th in the world

Young Vietnamese young badminton player Pham Cao Cuong has secured 7th place in the latest World Badminton Federation (WBF) rankings.

Cuong climbed 12 positions to record his highest ever WBF ranking. He is the second Vietnamese player to join Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, and South Korean rivals in the world’s top ten.

Pham Cao Cuong’s notable 2013 achievements include a semifinal berth at Indonesia’s Tangkas Specs Junior Tournament and a silver medal-winning effort at the U19 Open tournament in the Republic of Korea.

The Vietnamese players Do Tuan Duc and Pham Hong Nam were ranked 54th and 71st place in the world respectively.

Three-time SEA Games winner to compete in Kuwait

Hoang Xuan Vinh will be the Vietnamese representative at the seventh Asian Airgun Championships in Kuwait from March 7-13.

Three-time SEA Games winner Vinh will compete in the 10m air pistol event to be held on March 9.

The Olympian won a gold medal with 683.3 points in this competition two years ago in Nanchang , China.

V-League champions to grab VND4 billion prize

The winners of the V-League 2014 will receive VND4 billion (US$190,000) in cash, according to the Vietnam Professional Football Company (VPF).

The first and second runners-up will take VND2 billion and VND1 billion respectively.

The company, which manages all national tournaments, is also offering bonuses in new categories. These include team of the season, club that best uses young players, best young player of the year and best player of each club (as voted by fans).

The VPF also announced that Tanaka Koji will be the new head of the organising board.

Koji, 55, will arrive in Vietnam on January 9 to talk with VPF leaders and make the position official.

Ba Ra mountain climbing to kick off next week

The National Ba Ra Mountain Climbing Tournament will kick off on January 10 at the foot of Ba Ra Mountain in Binh Phuoc province.

Apart from local athletes, the organisers have invited runners from Laos and Cambodia.

Athletes will compete in individual and team categories. Professional men will run 7.7km while women will run 5.4km and amateur and youth athletes will race 6km and 5.4km, respectively.

Last year, nearly 600 athletes participated in the event. Tran Van Loi of the host won the men's pro event and Pham Thi Binh from Quang Ngai triumphed on the women's side.

National U19 football tourney to open next month

The Vietnam Football Federation has announced the 2014 National U19 Football Tournament will officially begin on February 9.

The round robin tournament is expected to feature 21 teams competing in four groups and over two round.

The top two teams of each group will then form the two groups used to select the best four teams for the semifinals.

The winning team will receive gold medals, the Cup Trophy, and a VND50 million in cash prize. The second place finishers earn silver and VND30 million prize, while third place take home bronze and VND20 million.

The tournament’s organising board will also award cash prizes worth VND5–10 million recognising best sportsmanship, best striker, best goalkeeper, and best referee.

Hanoi rewards medalists of SEA Games 27

The Hanoi Municipal Party Committee held a meeting on January 2 to encourage and reward the city’s coaches and athletes who won medals at the recent 27th SEA Games in Myanmar.

Politburo member and Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Pham Quang Nghi attended the event.

Accordingly, the gold medal winners each received a cash reward of VND10 million, while silver and bronze medalists were awarded VND5 million and VND2 million.

The Hanoi team sent 111 athletes and 76 coaches to the 27th SEA Games, winning 22 gold, 22 silver and 32 bronze medals, accounting for almost one-third of Vietnam’s medal total.

Addressing the meeting, Politburo member Pham Quang Nghi praised the achievements recorded by the city’s sports team. He also encouraged the athletes and coaches

to make further efforts and enhance support and experience sharing to make even greater achievements at upcoming tournaments.

On the same day, the Hanoi People’s Committee spent VND415 million to reward the city’s SEA Games team.