2013 AFC Cup fixtures announced

V-League Champions SHB Danang will take on archrivals at the 2013 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup.

Group G will see tough competitions between the Vietnamese Champions and Malaysia’s Kelantan, which had entered the Cup’s quarter-finals this year, Myanmar’s Ayeawady and Maldives’ Maziah Sports.

Things will be little easier for Vietnamese Cup Winners Saigon Xuan Thanh, who will face Tampines from Singapore, Selagor from Malaysia and East Bengal from India in Group H, neither of them have qualified from the tournament’s group stage nor attended the event before.

The play-off match between Syria’s Al Wahda and Tajikistan’s Regar Tadz will define the last club to play in group A of the Cup.

Tu, Nam win national chess tournaments

Nguyen Hoang Nam and Le Thanh Tu triumphed in the National Top Chess Players Tournament which wrapped up yesterday, Dec 6.

Nam, of the Military Team, lost to Lam Dong's Cao Sang in the last game of the men's event but still had seven points after nine games, enough to win the competition.

The title marked Nam's return after five years of not competing.

Second and third went to Tran Tuan Minh and Nguyen Van Huy of Ha Noi team respectively, with 6.5 points each.
Nam will compete in the 27th Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar next year.

Tu of Ha Noi won the women's event. She drew with Bui Kim Le of Binh Dinh in the last match yesterday to have 7.5 points after nine games.

Hanoian Hoang Bao Tram and Kien Giang's Pham Bich Ngoc, who were both on seven points, came second and third respectively.

It was the last tournament of the year in Viet Nam chess.

"Best players will be chosen to join the national team to play in international events next year," said head coach Lam Minh Chau.

Youths get set for volleyball champs

The National Young Volleyball Clubs Tournament will start tomorrow in the central province of Ha Tinh.

The event, which will last until December 17, will attract the participation of eight male and six female teams.

All players are required to be under the age of 20. The final round of competition will involve the four best clubs from both categories.

Toan awarded retrospective bronze

Tran Le Quoc Toan has been retrospectively awarded a bronze medal from the World Weightlifting Championships in Paris last year after El Maoui Khalil of Tunesia was found guilty of breaking the rules.

Tamas Ajan, chairman of the World Weightlifting Federation, said that despite lifting 2kg more than his Vietnamese opponent, Khalil had violated regulations in using dope.

VN to compete in world bodybuilding event

Viet Nam will compete at the World Fitness and Bodybuilding Championships in Bangkok, Thailand today.

The team includes the nation's 10 leading bodybuilders including Nguyen Thi My Linh (women's 52kg), Dinh Kim Loan (women's 48kg) and Nguyen Anh Thong (men's 60kg).

The event will finish this Sunday.

Minh jumps two notches to WBF No.8

Top Vietnamese player Nguyen Tien Minh has moved up two notches to rank 8th at the World Badminton Federation (WBF) December rankings.

Despite his improved rankings, Minh is not eligible to attend the Super Series Masters Final for top ten players as he was absent at two out of this year’s 10 compulsory Super Series events.

He will maintain his position until early next year as there are no more competitions in 2012.

Minh is now 656 points less than Japan’s Sho Sasaki, who also advanced two positions to No.7, and 718 points more than his follower Du Pengyu from China.

Malaysia’ Lee Chong Wei still shows his absolute domination to claim first place in the standings.

Source: VNS/VOV