‘Running man' to auction his T-shirt

'Running man' Nguyen Xuan Tien has decided to auction his T-shirt which has with the autographs of European giant Arsenal's star footballers.

Tien said the cash collected from the auction will be donated to the Arsenal-Viet Nam Charity Fund.

"I travelled with the Arsenal players to Da Nang and saw the difficulties faced by patients at the Da Nang Cancer Hospital. I think I have to do something to support them. I hope that this T-shirt will partly help them overcome their challenges," Tien said.

Tien became famous when Arsenal visited Viet Nam last July. He was first called the 'Running man' by the Gunners as he ran for miles after the team bus, prompting the Premier League stars to stop the bus and welcome him aboard. They posed for pictures and signed his T-shirt.

Liem triumphs at blitz chess tournament

World champion Le Quang Liem of HCM City had no difficulty defending his title at the National Blitz Chess Championship which finished yesterday in HCM City.

Liem proved his power with 10.5 points from 10 wins and one draw, cementing a two-point margin ahead of second-placed Hoang Canh Huan from Military.

Le Tuan Minh of Ha Noi came in third on 8.5 points.

On the women's side, host master Le Hoang Tran Chau took the gold medal with nine points, while Pham Le Thao Nguyen of Can Tho coming in a close second. It is Nguyen's second medal at the competition, having already pocketed a gold medal in the Rapid Chess event on Thursday.

The bronze medal went to Nguyen Thi Diem Huong of Binh Duong.

Ha Noi retain national badminton crown

Ha Noi successfully defended their title at the National Mixed Team Badminton Championship which closed on Thursday in Bac Giang Province.

Ha Noi defeated HCM City 3-1 in the final match, with world No 10 Nguyen Tien Minh scoring the only 21-11, 21-10 win for HCM City in the men's singles match.

Ha Noi then dominated the women's singles, with Le Thu Huyen beating Kim Thu 21-14, 21-10, and the men's doubles, with Le Ha Anh and Dao Manh Thang toppling top seeded pair Nguyen Hoang Nam/Duong Bao Duc 21-13, 21-8. Earlier their women's duo Huyen/Pham Nhu Thao best Dang Kim Ngan/Le Thi Thanh Thuy 21-17, 23-25, 21-15.

Quang Binh win finswimming champs

Tran Thi Trang Diem nabbed two gold medals on the last day to deliver Quang Binh the top spot at the National Junior Finswimming Championship with a total of eight gold medals, six silver and three bronze.

Diem topped the medal tally with five golds at the championship, with the 16-year-old also shaving 3.13sec off her old record in the girls' 800m on the last day with a time of 7min 25.25sec.

Tran Thi Mai Hue from Ha Nam also clocked her second record at the championship, surpassing an old record of 46.50sec in the girl's 100m, with a new time of 45.32sec.

Dao Thi Ngoc of Hai Duong swam a time of 3min 37.78sec to claim the gold medal and also beating the old record (3min 44.04) for the girl's 400m immersion (diving with oxygen flask) set by Nguyen Thi Lan Vy of Da Nang two years ago.

Ngo Thi Thu Thao from Long An also beat her old record in the girl's 200m double-fin yesterday with a time in 1min 56.32sec, 59 hundredths of a second faster than the previous time of 1:56.91.