Tien Minh prepares for Japan challenge

Viet Nam's top badminton star, Nguyen Tien Minh, will compete in the 2013 Japan Yonex Open, to be held in Tokyo from September 17.

Minh will compete after failing to defend his title at the Yonex Chinese Taipei Open.

Minh is the tournament's fifth seed and will compete against 31 players for the men's singles title.

The first match will see Minh face off against China's Wang Zhengming, who is currently ranked 10th in the world.

Minh is tipped to overcome the 23 year old, winning their previous two encounters with the same score, 2-1.

The tournament will attract the world's top athletes and will run until September 22. 

Vietnam girls compete in world U-20 chess event

Nguyen Thi Mai Hung and Vo Thi Kim Phung are representing Vietnam in the girls’ category at the 2013 World Junior U-20 Chess Championships scheduled from September 12-27 in Kocaeli, Turkey.

The fortnight event sees the participation of 123 male and 78 female players from 50 countries and territories throughout the world who compete in 13 rounds of play for the boys’ and girls’ titles.

The race for victory promises to be fierce for the two Vietnam chess masters as they are bound to face crunch challenges from the world’s top girls such as Russian Alina Kashlinskaya and Peruvian Deysi Cori, who are ranked third and fourth respectively in the FIDE girls’ rankings.

Mai Hung and Kim Phung will start their campaign at the 17th and 18th position correspondingly.

Hanoi wins national karate tournament

Hanoi secured top spot with five gold, three silver and three bronze medals at the 2013 National Karate Tournament which wrapped up on September 11 in the central province of Thanh Hoa.

The Army team finished second with five gold, two silver and six bronze medals, followed by the People’s Police team with three gold, six silver and a bronze medal.  

This year’s tournament drew the participation of 300 martial artists from 32 provinces and cities around the country.

The participants competed for sets of medals in both demonstration and 20 weight combat categories for individuals and teams.

The five-day competition offers a good opportunity for local martial artists to exchange experience to improve their skills as well as provides a chance for coaches to select the outstanding athletes for the national team in preparation for the upcoming Sea Games 2013 in Myanmar.

Vietnam A win at Golden Racket

Vietnam A beat Malaysia 3-0 in the opening match of the men’s team event at the 27th International Golden Racket Tournament in Ho Chi Minh City on September 11.

Earlier, the Ho Chi Minh City team lost 0-3 to the Republic of Korea (RoK), while Singapore had a 3-0 win over Petrosetco. In other matches, Vietnam B also lost 2-3 to Japan and Thailand 1-3 to RoK B.

In the women’s team event, both Vietnam A and Vietnam B were defeated 0-3 by Thailand and Petrosetco.

The tournament will run through to September 14.

Vietnamese tennis players compete in Davis Cup 2013

A five-member team of Vietnam is taking part in Davis Cup 2013, the premier international team event in men’s tennis, in the United Arab Emirates from September 11-15.

Do Minh Quan, Le QuocKhanh, Nguyen Hoang Thien, Pham Minh Tuan, and Tran Hoang AnhKhoa are joining the fray in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group III against Cambodia, Hong Kong (China), Iran, Malaysia, Oman, Pacific Oceania, and hosts UAE.

The teams are divided into two pools to play in a round-robin format. The top two teams in each table will progress to a new 'promotion' pool and the best two teams from this pool are promoted to Asia/Oceania Zone Group II for 2014.

Meanwhile, the bottom two teams in each table are also placed in a new 'relegation' pool and the worst two teams in this table are relegated to Asia/Oceania Zone Group IV for 2014.

Two records made on last day of fin-swimming

Two new records were set on the last day of the National Fin-swimming Championships that ended yesterday in Ha Noi.

Tran Bao Thu of Tay Ninh Province won a gold medal in the men's 400m surface (diving with a snorkel) with a time of 3min 07.59sec. This beat his own old record of 3:08.82 made two years ago.

The second record went to Nguyen Ngoc Quang Bao of HCM City who won the men's 200m monofin event.

Bao finished first, clocking 1:41.95, 0.10sec better than the old record he set up last year.

Da Nang claimed three more golds to make it the strongest team at the tournament.

The team topped the ranking table with nine golds, two silvers and two bronzes.

HCM City were second with six gold, nine silver and two bronze medals. Thanh Hoa stole host Ha Noi's third place in the last seconds with five golds, two silvers and two bronzes.

Little Footballers show to start third edition

The TV reality show Little Footballers is back and once again ready to scout Viet Nam for children with football talent, kicking off later this week in HCM City.

The programme will find the most capable kids in the country to form a pint-sized professional football team who will compete in the Lotteria Challenge Cup against 50 other schools and young football clubs nationwide.

Boys and girls from primary schools aged between seven and nine are allowed to take part in the show, receiving training from professional coaches.

Regional-level pre-qualifying rounds are slated to take place in four main locations: HCM City on September 14-15, Can Tho City on September 18, Ha Noi on September 21-22 and Vinh City on October 5.

Each team will consist of 7-10 footballers and their managers. Teams will be divided into groups and compete in rounds. The first – and second-placed sides will later play knock-outs to select the best six teams to join the finals in Ha Noi.

The champions will enjoy a five-day tour to the Republic of Korea and join the Lotteria Super Cup.

For detailed information about the Cup, visit cauthutihonvtv.vn.