SEA Games 27 to take place in four cities

Sports competitions at the 27th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) will be held in Myanmar ’s four main cities in December, Myanmar sports media reported on November 21.

Apart from the capital city of Nay Pyi Taw with 28 sports categories, Yangon will host seven including Kampo, bodybuilding, weightlifting, wrestling, hockey, shooting, and Group B matches of men's football.

Mandalay and Pathein cities will each host one category.

The Games are scheduled to take place from December 11 to 22 with 460 sets of medals at stake.

Mean’s football, the first to be competed, will kick off on December 1.-

V-League prepares to welcome newcomers in January kick-off

V-League 2014 will start the new season with a Super Cup match on January 1 between title holders Ha Noi T&T and National Cup holders Ninh Binh.

Following the withdrawal of Kien Giang due to the financial crunch, the new season will feature 13 teams instead of 14, but there will be one more team than last season.

Quang Ninh, Quang Nam and An Giang will play in the tournament for the first time after winning promotion to the league.

The First Division, which has eight teams, will start playing on March 15 and finish on June 28.

 First-round exit for Minh in Hong Kong

Vietnams No 1 badminton player, Nguyen Tien Minh, had a disappointing loss and first-round exit at the Hong Kong Open 2013, following a 2 – 0 defeat by Indias Ajay Jayaram.

During the match, the-30-year-old Minh failed to return smashes from Jayaram, who had nine successful smashes, and quickly surrendered the first game 21-7.

The second game was played out in similar fashion as Jayaram claimed eleven points from smashes in his 21-12 win over Minh.

This is the first time Minh, world-ranked Number 7 and Number 7 seeded at the tournament, has lost to Jayaram during four encounters between the two players.

Phuc retains yellow jersey as Anh enjoys first win

Do Tuan Anh of Domesco Pharmacy-Dong Thap celebrates winning his first stage.

The top three positions remained unchanged after the fifth stage of the Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Cycling Tournament yesterday, with Ho Van Phuc of ADC-Vinh Long Television retaining the yellow jersey with a combined time of 16hr 50.02min.

He is followed by Nguyen Truong Tai of Domesco Pharmacy-Dong Thap and Ho Hoang Son, also from Vinh Long.

Do Tuan Anh of Dong Thap earned his first victory in yesterday's stage, covering the 52km around Ho Xuan Huong Lake in Da Lat in 1:08.57.

Le Nguyet Minh of Eximbank-HCM City defended his green jersey with 49 points.

In the team rankings, Vinh Long stand in first, closely followed by Military Zone 7 and Dong Thap.

Today, cyclists will pedal 98km from Da Lat to Bao Loc City.

Viet Nam lose their way at International Futsal Tournament

Viet Nam went down 1-3 to Thailand in their second match at the International Futsal (indoor football) Tournament yesterday at the Phu Tho Gymnasium in HCM City.

It is the second loss for the host at the tournament, with the team now ranked in the bottom four. Meanwhile, world champions Brazil edged closer to the title after a second victory, defeating Asian champions Japan 2-1 in an earlier match.

Viet Nam will play Brazil in the last match today.

 Borren takes the lead at senior golf tournament in Quang Nam

Frank Borren from New Zealand shot a two- under par 70 to lead by two from England's John Ambridge in the first round of the Asia Pacific Senior Amateur Golf Championships at Montgomerie Links yesterday.

Dan Acret from Australia and Douglas Williams from Hong Kong are a further shot back following the first round yesterday morning

The annual tournament, which has drawn over 100 players from 15 countries and territories, will continue today in Quang Nam Province with many players still in contention.

The final round will be played tomorrow.

Logic exit from Asian Cup which flatters to deceive

Vietnamese footballers lost their fifth match in the Asian Cup 2015 qualifiers, with a 5-0 defeat to the United Arab Emirates in their fifth Group E game, in Abu Dhabi late on November 19.

The UAE dominated throughout the second leg of the game, and the goals came from Mabkhout, who scored a double, and Abbas, Matar and Khalil, who all featured on the score sheet once.

Vietnam, who were thrown out of the running for the Asian Cup 2015 following a 3-0 home defeat against Uzbekistan at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi on November 15, have not yet secured a single point in five matches.

The bottom team will wrap up their most disappointing Asian Cup qualifying campaign with the last match against Hong Kong at home on March 5, 2014.-