Tien Minh books Taipei Open quarter-final berths

Nguyen Tien Minh yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the Yonex Chinese Taipei Open in New Taipei City.

No 1 seed Minh defeated No 14 seed Zulfadli Zulkiffli of Malaysia 21-16, 21-15 in the third round. Earlier yesterday, he beat Sheng-Jie Yang of the hosts 21-15, 21-14

The world No 5 will play Khosit Phetpradab of Thailand today.

In the women's event, Vietnamese representative Vu Thi Trang also advanced to the quarter-finals with a comfortable 21-9, 21-10 win.

She will next meet Juan Gu of Singapore.

The tournament will finish on Sunday with the winners walking away with S$200,000.

Vietnam finishes first at World Shuttlecock Champs

Vietnam has finished in first place after the 7th World Shuttlecock Championship’s (WSC) four days of competition, concluded in the Mekong Delta’s Dong Thap province on September 5.

The country won four gold and three silver medals across women's singles, men's doubles, and men’s and women’s triples events.

China ranked second with its three gold and four silver medals, followed by Hungary with three third place finishes.

This year’s tournament attracted 104 athletes representing 12 of the world’s countries and territories, including Austria, China, Italy, Finland, France, Germany, and the host Vietnam.

Ninh Binh lift National Cup

Vissai Ninh Binh seized the National Cup at Chi Lang Stadium yesterday, defeating SHB Da Nang 6-5 in a penalty shootout.

Ninh Binh claimed the VND1 billion (US$48,000) cash prize and a berth in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup next year.

The hosts Da Nang pocketed VND500 million ($24,000) as runners-up.

"We played all out to win the match today. It's a significant win for us in the last game of the football tournament. I would attribute our victory to the players and our fans," said Ninh Binh coach Nguyen Van Sy.

Ninh Binh started the match with a powerful squad fronted by Nigerian Omoduemuke Peter, Ivory Coast's Sannogo Moussa and Brazilian-born Dinh Van Ta (original name Rodrigo Mota Farias), all of whom were granted Vietnamese citizenship.

Da Nang struggled to overcome the 1-1 deadlock with Argentinean striker Gaston Merlo, Huynh Quoc Anh and Nguyen Minh Phuong playing below expectations.

Phan Anh Tuan netted the first goal of the match in the 19th minute scoring an early lead for Ninh Binh in the first half.

Da Nang hit back with a strong offence, failing to poke holes in Ninh Binh's defence until Gaston Merlo evened the score for Da Nang in the final minute.

Ninh Binh continued with only 10 players after Le Quang Hung was sent off with two yellow cards in the 70th minute.

In the penalty shootout, Ninh Binh goalkeeper Manh Dung proved an unstoppable force, carrying the side to a National Cup win.

Athletes to compete at national fin-swimming championships

The national fin-swimming and swimming championships will be held in Ha Noi this September.

The fin-swimming championships will take place between September 8-11, while the swimming tournament will follow from September 12-16.

Fin-swimming athletes will compete across 12 men's and women's events in the surface, surface bifins, apnea and immersion categories.

Swimmers will participate across seven categories of swimming, with eight events each.

Each team is allowed a maximum of two representatives to compete in each individual category.

The organisers said the two championships will allow talented athletes to compete for selection in the national teams.

National U23 squad announced

The national Under-23 football squad of 25 players has been announced by coach Hoang Van Phuc. They were chosen at a training camp in preparation for the 2013 Southeast Asian Games in Naypyitaw, Myanmar.

With the end of the V-League last weekend, 16 players from V-League clubs now join nine players from the First Division, who were already at the training centre.

Phuc also called up two new faces, defenders Que Ngoc Hai and Sam Ngoc Duc. He also dropped three others, Tien Duy, Huu Phuc and Giang Tran Quach Tan.

The coaching team has also been strengthened with the addition of Nguyen Van Sy as assistant coach.

The team began training session yesterday in Ha Noi. The team will fly to Hungary for a two-week training period before returning to HCM City to play Galatasaray of Turkey and the U23 Santos of Brazil.