Tien Minh knocked out of China Open 2013

Host player Tian Houwei outperformed Vietnamese hopeful Nguyen Tien Minh 2-1 at the first round of the China Open 2013 on November 13.

It was a tough badminton game for Minh as Tian was in good form and had beaten World No Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia and World No6 Jan Jorgensen of Denmark. Tian also triumphed at London Grand Prix Gold and Australia Open 2013.

The 21-year-old Chinese player forced Minh to work hard to repel his powerful smashes. International experience only helped the Vietnamese No1 player take advantage in the first set, but could not resist the young Chinese star’s strong serves in the next two sets.

This was Minh’s second consecutive defeat at the first round of an international tournament, following his disqualification from the earlier Denmark Open 2013.

Minh will compete at the Hong Kong Open 2013 next week.

Trang to compete at Ha Noi Open

Viet Nam's number one women's badminton player Vu Thi Trang will defend her crown at the Ha Noi Open 2013 badminton championships, which will kick off tomorrow at the Ha Noi Indoor Sport Stadium.

Trang, who is the reigning national champion, will compete in the singles event against her biggest opponent Nguyen Thi Sen.

Nguyen Linh Giang, Dinh Thi Phuong Hang and Nguyen Thi Thao Mai are some other names cited as capable of challenging Trang.

On the men's side, Nguyen Cong Hai, Nghiem Dinh Cong and Tran Van Tri will be contenders for titles.

The tournament also features the men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles.

VN muay thai fighter claims gold

Viet Nam pocketed one gold and one silver at an international muay thai tournament that finished in Myanmar early this week.

Viet Nam shared second place with Thailand while the hosts finished first with four gold medals.

The tournament was part of the warm-up activities for regional fighters who will compete at the 27th SEA Games later this year in Myanmar.

Thanh on target at regional champs

Ha Minh Thanh shot a gold medal with an ASEAN record score at the Southeast Asian Shooting Championships in Malaysia on Tuesday.

The Vietnamese marksman scored 585 points in the men's 25m centre-fire pistol event, matching the record set up by Jakkrit Panchpatirua of Thailand in 2006 in Ha Noi.

Earlier, Nguyen Duy Hoang won the men's three-position rifle event with 444 points, and later triumphed in the team event.

In the women's three-position rifle, Nguyen Thi Xuan claimed a silver behind Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi of Malaysia. However Xuan and her teammates took the gold in the team event.

After six days of competition, Viet Nam rank second with eight golds. Malaysia are on top with 11 while Chinese Taipei are third with four.

NutiFood sponsors VND6 bil. for female football team

Nutrition company NutiFood yesterday announced that they will set aside VND6 billion to sponsor and support Vietnam’s national female football team which is bidding to qualify for the World Cup.

The donation is part of the program “Together with Vietnam’s female football team towards World Cup 2015” from now until May 2014. VND2 billion of the money will be spent on a training course in Japan for the team to prepare for the Asian Cup 2014.

Furthermore, the company also supports the monthly income of the players and a budget to help the U19s women football team.

The company is also hoping to recruit the footballers during their season breaks and after retirement from football into their employment.

Source: VNA/VNS/VOV