Local favourite Minh seeded No 1 for US Open

Viet Nam's top badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh has been named the No 1 seed at the 2014 US YONEX Open Badminton Championships, to be held at Suffolk County Community College in Long Island, New York on July 8-13.

The world No 14 will be the sole Vietnamese representative at BWF Grand Prix Gold series event which is offering players a prize pool of US$120,000.

Tien Chen Chou of Chinese Taipei who is the world No 19 is seeded second, while Eric Pang of the Netherlands (world No 31) and Brice Leverdez of France (world No 32) are third and fourth, respectively.

The HCM City native is trying to crack the world top 10 having dropped after some recent events.

Vietnam drop five places in world rankings

Viet Nam's national women's football team have dropped five places to 33rd in the second quarter this year, according to FIFA's latest rankings.

The team bowed out of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification held in HCM City last month.

In Southeast Asia, Thailand, the world No 29, who beat Viet Nam to secure a berth to compete in the World Cup next year are leading, with Viet Nam as the runner-up.

The US team held onto the top spot, with Germany as second and Japan as the third highest team.

FIFA will announce the next rankings on August 19.

Local athletes unsuccessful at Judo Grand Prix

Four Vietnamese athletes – Van Ngoc Tu, Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, Ho Thi Nhu Van and Nguyen Thi Huong – missed a chance to proceed at the recent Judo Grand Prix in Budapest, Hungary.

The Grand Prix competition was part of the Vietnamese judo artists’ training in Europe to gain more experience prior to the upcoming 17th Asian Games (ASIAD) in the Republic of Korea.

In the under 52kg category, Vietnamese top seed Van Ngoc Tu was defeated by Daniella Ballogh of the host country in the first round.

Her teammates Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy (under 57kg) and Nguyen Thi Huong (under 63kg) also lost to opponents from Slovenia and Spain in the first round.

Ho Thi Nhu Van failed to obtain a berth to the next round due to her unsuccessful performance against a Dutch rival.

As scheduled the Vietnamese judo team will continue their training in Europe until June 30 before flying back home in preparation for ASIAD 17 this September.

Three of the best players from the 2014 National Teenager Individual Badminton Championships, which wrapped up in HCM City, have been selected to train in Indonesia for a period ranging from three months to one year.

Nguyen Duc Giang and Dang Quang Huy of Son La and Nguyen Binh Minh of Thai Nguyen were among a host of candidates selected.

Despite taking the lead at the event with six gold medals, none of the HCM City players were chosen for the overseas training camp. Hai Phong, with two golds and Bac Giang with one gold, one silver and one bronze finished second and third, respectively.

Lifters bag gold medals in Hungary contest

Vietnamese champions won two gold medals at an open weightlifting championship in Budapest, Hungary, on Sunday.

Tran Le Quoc Toan triumphed in the men's U56-kilogram category with a total lift of 281 kilograms. His female compatriot Do Thi Thu Hoai won the 48-kilogram event with a lift of 175 kilograms.

Viet Nam has sent three athletes to the competition, which is considered a warm-up event and part of the team's three-month training course for the coming Asian Games in South Korea in September.