All Vietnamese players ousted from Ha Noi badminton competition

All Vietnamese players were ousted from the Ciputra Hanoi-Yonex Sunrise Vietnam International Challenge, currently being held at the Cau Giay Gymnasium.

Yesterday was a bad day for the hosts as their players failed to find a berth in the third round matches, although three players were competing in the singles events and eight in the doubles events.

The defeat of No. 3 seed Vu Thi Trang was the most unexpected as she quickly lost 13-21, 14-21 in only 45 minutes to the unseeded Supanida Katethong of Thailand in the women's singles.

National young star Pham Cao Cuong failed to overthrow the No 1 seed Suppanyu Avihingsanon, also from Thailand. He was defeated 18-21, 19-21 in the men's singles.

His teammate Nguyen Hoang Nam shared the same fate after he led his Thai rival Pannawit Thongnuama to a victory with the score of 19-21, 21-17, 21-19.

In the women's doubles match, Vu Thi Trang and her partner Nguyen Thi Sen were also in poor form. The No. 6 duo went down 11-21, 19-21 to Supanida Katethong and Panjarat Pransopon from Thailand.

Other pairs played better than the Vietnamese players, who were finally sidelined on their home turf and forced to watch foreign players outperforming them.

The Hanoi Challenge will conclude on Sunday.

Nam enters semi-finals of Malaysian CM Cup

Vietnam junior player Ly Hoang Nam has defeated Chinese rival Wu Yibing in two straight sets, 6-3 and 6-4, in the quarter-finals of the 2015 Sarawak Chief Minister's Cup on-going in Malaysia.

With the March 20 victory he clinched a berth at the boy’s singles semi-finals of the 25th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (I) ITF Junior Tennis Championship (Grade 1).

In the boy’s doubles, Hoang Nam and Lim Alberto (the Philippines) also earned a berth to the semi-finals with a win over the Korean team of Oh Chan Yeong - Kwon Soon Woo.

Ha Nam log big win at national championship in HCM City

Phong Phu Ha Nam logged their biggest ever win yesterday after trouncing Ha Noi 2 7-0 in the fifth round match of the National Women's Football Championship in HCM City.

Last year's runners-up easily set up their domination over one of the weakest teams of the tournament.

They scored their first goal just 10 minutes into the match with Nguyen Thi Tuyet Dung converting a penalty into an opening goal.

She scored her second goal four minutes after the break.

Her teammates Nguyen Thi Nguyet, Pham Thi Tuoi, Nguyen Thi Lieu and Vu Thi Thuy also scored one goal each, while defender Nguyen Thi Van Anh of Ha Noi 2 scored another goal to achieve the brilliant win for the Ha Nam.

With their second win Ha Nam has seven points, three less than current leader Ha Noi 1.

In another match yesterday, Thai Nguyen lost 0-1 to Viet Nam Coal and Minerals.

The teams have two days off before returning to competition on Sunday.

Cross-country cycling event kick off in Da Lat

The cross-country cycling championship, Vietnam Victory Challenge, kicked off on March 19 in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

The competition will take place in the terrain of Da Lat city and Lac Duong district from March 20-22 with the participation of 90 cyclists from Vietnam and other 10 countries.

The riders will compete in three stages with the average length of each ranging from 40 to 50 kilometres.

The first stage will be from Dap Suoi Vang (Golden Stream Dam) to Thung Lung Tinh Yeu (Love Valley), the second is from Thung Lung Tinh Yeu to Dap Suoi Vang and the third will be the surrounding of Thung Lung Tinh Yeu.

The total prize money of 330 million VND (16,500 USD) will be given to outstanding riders after each stage and on the overall result.

Quang Liem enters the leading group after three games

Vietnamese second seed Le Quang Liem (Elo 2,676) has joined Indonesian Andika Pitra (Elo 2,310) and Singaporean Zhang Zhong (Elo 2,614) to lead the ongoing HDBank International Open Chess Tournament in Ho Chi Minh City following his second and third-round victories on March 18.

Liem hardly broke a sweat to beat Myanmar’s Wynn Zaw Htun (Elo 2,382) in 34 moves before playing black to handle Haridas Pascua of the Philippines (Elo 2,423) after 52 moves, putting himself among the three competitors to enjoy a three-game winning streak.

Liem’s fellow and reigning champion Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, who is seeded third with an Elo rating of 2,266, failed to build on his first-round win, suffering two prompt draws with Rolando Nolte and Kim Steven Yap, both from the Philippines on Wednesday.

Chinese top seed Li Chao (Elo 2,721) dropped his advantage beating Rolando Nolte but drawing with another Filipino player, Oliver Dimakiling on the same day. Li earned 2.5 points after three matches, half a point behind Quang Liem.

Quang Liem will play white against Zhang Zhong – Liem’s loser at the World Cup Zone 3.3 qualifying round in HCM City a few days ago. Other notable matches include Li Chao taking on Andika Pitra and Truong Son playing Singaporean Xiangyi Liu.

Athletes prepping for SEA Games in Singapore

Athletes of Vietnamese national teams are now in their peak training period in Hanoi ahead of the 2015 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games to be held in Singapore from June 5 to 16.

Vietnam will send 440 athletes to compete in 27 out of 36 sports at the 28th SEA Games.

As usual, Vietnamese sports authorities have set a target for their players at the tournament, which is organized every two years.

Accordingly, Vietnam aims to win 56-74 gold medals and have the national men’s football (soccer) team advance to the final match of the tourney, which will offer 402 sets of medals.

Nguyen Trong Ho, vice director of the Nhon national sports training center in the capital city where the athletes are camping, said players will soon be given a special food ration of VND300,000 (US$14) each per day.

Players in some sports have VND400,000 (US$18.6) each for food a day.

Athletes at Nhon are given a nutrition course led by Hungarian nutritionist Ketskes Norbert.

Tran Duc Phan – vice head of the Sports General Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism – said that it is important for athletes to join the nutrition course as Vietnam has no nutrition expert for each national team.

From this week, all athletes training at the Nhon center are allowed to leave their camp on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Vietnam is about to send two female runners, Quach Thi Lan and Nguyen Thi Huyen, to the U.S. for training.

The national shooting team will also leave for training in the Republic of Korea on March 25.

Some of the team members will fly to the U.S. to partake in the 2015 ISSF Shotgun, Rifle, and Pistol World Cup Finals from May 10 to 19 before returning home for the SEA Games in June.

Gymnasts will leave for training in Canada from March 30 to April 20.

Tien Phong Newspaper marathon to commence on Sunday

The National Marathon Tournament organised by the Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper will be held on Sunday in Vinh Yen City, Vinh Phuc Province.

At the 56th anniversary of the tournament, athletes will participate in 11 categories for both amateurs and professionals, competing for a total award money of VND160 million (US$7,500).

The marathon will be live aired on VTV6 from 6.30am onwards.