Vietnam bags three golds at Asian Taekwondo Champions

Chau Le Tuyet Van on May 25 helped Vietnam win two gold medals in the team event at the Asian Taekwondo Championship taking place in Uzbekistan.

Her teammate Ngo Thi Thuy Dung also stood atop the podium winning a gold in an individual event on the same day.

Vietnam fielded a team of 11 athletes to compete at 10 events at the tournament.

Following the tournament, the Vietnam team is scheduled to participate in a training course in Republic of Korea in preparation for the Asian Games (Asiad 2014) slated for Incheon, the RoK, later this year.

Van is considered a Vietnamese hopeful at the upcoming regional tournament.

Minh to participate in two international events

Nguyen Tien Minh is seeded No 7 at the YONEX Open Japan badminton tournament, which will be held in Tokyo from June 10 to 15.

The Vietnamese world No 10 will meet strong rivals such as No 1 seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, No 2 seed Chen Long from China as well as Olympic champion Lin Dan.

After Tokyo, Minh will take part in the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier in Jakarta from June 17 to 22.

His teammate and girl-friend Vu Thi Trang will participate in this tournament in the women's singles category.

Trang will start with the qualifying round. The Youth Olympic bronze medallist will have to win three matches for a berth in the main round.

The winners will get a bonus of US$750,000.

Tam wins Return to Countryside cycling tourney

Getting fourth place in the last stage of the Return to Countryside cycling tournament was enough for Ha Minh Tam to take the overall title yesterday.

Tam of Hat Ngoc Troi An Giang Rice completed the tournament with a total time of 21hr 9.39min.

Tran Nguyen Duy Nhan of Military Zone 7 was second, followed by Phan Hoang Thai of Domesco Pharmacy Dong Thap.

Thai made a big jump to the final ranking's top three after winning the last stage yesterday, completing the 57km tour from Tan Chau Town to Phu Tan District of An Giang Province with a time of 1:24.31.

Nhan came second and Nguyen Huu Tien of Vinh Long was third.

Thai later won the 30km time-trial stage but the result was not counted in the final ranking. The rider travelled solo around Long Xuyen City at an average speed of 41.347km/h.

Military Zone 7 took the team title with the best time of 63:33.27.

Host An Giang claimed silver and HCM City the bronze.

Nam advances to Astrid Bowl Charleroi's second round

Ly Hoang Nam of Viet Nam beat Brazilian Igor Ribeiro Marcondes 7-5, 6-0 in the first round of the 50th Astrid Bowl Charleroi, Belgian International Junior Championships yesterday.

The sole player from Southeast Asia will next meet Boris Pokotilov of Russia in the second round at the Centre de Delassement de Charleroi-Marcinelle.

Pokotilov, who had a bye in the first round, is the No 16 seed in the clay court tournament.

The Belgian event for both boys and girls will end on May 31.