VietNamNet Bridge – The latest world rankings released by the World Badminton Federation revealed that Viet Nam's top badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh maintained his top ten placement in seventh position.


Nguyen Tien Minh. (Photo: VNS)
The top five players were led by Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, followed by Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, Lin Dan and Chen Long of China and Peter Hoeg Gade of Denmark.


Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand ranked sixth.


Rising star Bao Chunlai of China returned to the top ten in eighth place while Sung Hwan-park of South Korea ranked ninth and Jin Chen of China rounded out the top in 10th place.


* Geckos win hard-fought Super 4 final against Cambodia Garudas


The undefeated VinaProjects Saigon Geckos Rugby Team won the Cambodian Federation of Rugby 2011 Super 4.


The team won the grand final 10-0 against the Cambodia Garudas and collected the silverware in a closely fought final at the old stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.


This is by far the biggest and most prestigious competition win the club has achieved.


The club hold the titles of nearly all major rugby competitions they have participated in the region in 2010 and 2011.


The team won a double victory at the Indochine Cup winning the 10's contact final and touch final, which comprised eight rugby teams from Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia, early this month at RMIT University Sport Stadium.


For the first time since 2002, the Saigon Geckos have won both the Indochine touch and contact trophies.


Since the start of Indochine Cup in 1999, the Geckos have been in 11 finals and this is their sixth championship.


* Asthma to prevent Viet from qualifying for London Olympics


Viet Nam's top swimmer Nguyen Huu Viet lost a chance to take part in his second Olympics because asthma will keep him from competing at July's World Swimming Championship, one of the qualifying rounds for the London Games.


Viet, who dominates the Southeast Asian Games in the men's 100m breaststroke with a record of 1:1.60, is currently Viet Nam's best swimmer.


Junior Nguyen Quy Phuoc has already secured a ticket to London with a gold medal win at the Malaysia Open earlier this month in a 53.83sec performance in the men's 100m butterfly event.


VietNamNet/Viet Nam News