Lua wins silver medal at Asian Championships

Nguyen Thi Lua won a silver medal at the Asian Wrestling Championships which concluded in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Sunday.

The Vietnamese player lost to Chinese rival Zhong Xeuchun in the final of the women's 53-kilogram freestyle category.

Hikaru Sugawara of Japan, who defeated Zhuldyz Eshimova of Kazakhstan 3-2, bagged a bronze medal. Roazalia Tilegenova from Kyrgyzstan also took home a bronze after winning 10-0 over Asem Seydametova of Uzbekistan.

It is her second medal at the continental event. Four years ago, the London Olympian bagged a bronze medal.

Lua's medal was the only one for Viet Nam which had sent three players to Kazakhstan. Lua's teammates Ly Thi Hien and Nguyen Thi Vinh competed in the women's 60-kilogram and 63-kilogram categories, respectively.

Vietnam to participate world table tennis championships

The Vietnam national men’s table tennis team has gone to Tokyo, Japan to participate in the 2014 World Team Tennis Championships, from April 28 to May 5.

Members of the Vietnam team are Dinh Quang Vinh, Le Tien Dat, Duong Van Nam, Doan Ba Tuan Anh and Nguyen Anh Tu. Of the most skilled players, Dinh Quang Linh is considered as Vietnam’s key hope.

Additionally, Le Tien Dat and Duong Van Nam, who recorded sound achievements at the national tournament and SEA Games 27, also are potential winning players.

Head coach Nguyen Duc Long, co-ordinator of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) professional Ri Jong Sik and his personal assistant Ju Se Il, will support Vietnam’s table tennis team at this year’s competition.

Duan pedals to second stage victory

Le Van Duan of Suntek Sao Viet HCM City won the ninth stage of the HCM City Television Cycling Cup yesterday.

Duan finished the 51km stage around Xuan Huong Lake in Da Lat in just over one hour and eight minutes.

Tran Van Quyen and Le Huu Phuoc of Military Zone 7 came second and third, having initially opened up a lead.

However, powerful Suntek Sao HCM City quickly narrowed the gap and caught up with them, and the whole peloton crossed the finish line together.

Duan took the win by a hair to complete his second stage victory.

Finishing in a crowd just seconds later, Ho Huynh Van An of An Giang Plant Protection retained the yellow jersey with an overall time 22:54.34.

Huynh Van Thuan of ADC-Vinh Long Television is just 1.2 seconds behind, with Pham Hoang Thai of Domesco Dong Thap Pharmacy in close pursuit.

An is also leading the competition for the green jersey.

Dinh Quoc Viet of Suntek Sao Viet HCM City, who was in tears after losing the yellow jersey to An on Sunday, managed to keep hold of the red jersey for the King of Mountains race.

In the team rankings, Suntek Sao Viet HCM City are out in the lead, followed by An Giang and Domesco Dong Thap.

The 10th stage today will see competitors compete over 110km from Da Lat to Bao Loc City.

Defending champs fight back to draw newcomers

Defending champions Ha Noi T&T were given a real scare when they had to come from three goals down to earn a 3-3 draw against newly-promoted QNK Quang Nam.

All the goals came in the second half of the match, after Ugandan striker Henry Kisekka broke the deadlock just two minutes after the break.

Local hitman Dinh Thanh Trung grabbed a double within the space of six minutes to put the home team 3-0 up, but the three-goal cushion failed to stop T&T, and seemed to serve as a wake-up call for the defending champions.

Rising star Nguyen Ngoc Duy initiated the comeback with a goal in the 76th minute, before Hoang Vu Samson and striker Sam Gallagher stunned the home fans with two goals in the last minute of regular time to salvage a point for T&T.

The draw did not change the teams' positions in the table, with T&T in third with three games in hand on 20 points, and newly-promoted Quang Nam in tenth place with 12 points.