Athletes to compete in 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Champs

Four Vietnamese athletes will take part in the 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Champs, to be held in Hangzhou, China, from February 16-19.  

The team coached by Duong Duc Thuy includes Duong Viet Anh (high jump), Tran Hue Hoa (triple jump), Nguyen Thi Phuong (3,000m run) and Nguyen Thi Thuy (400m run). The team’s medal hopes are mostly on Duong Viet Anh, who has made good progress recently.

Top sprinter Truong Thanh Hang will not join the event because she is preparing for the Asian All Stars Athletics Meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan in June to collect points for a berth at the 2012 London Olympics this summer.

Liem drops to 10th position in Aeroflot chess tourney

Top Vietnamese chess player Le Quang Liem was held to a draw against his Moldovan rival Viorel Iordanchescu at the Aeroflot Chess Open on February 10th 2012.  

Although Liem remains unbeaten, with 2 points after three matches in the tournament, his chances to successfully defend his position as champion after two successive years are small.

He now ranks 10th at only 0.5 points lower than the leading player Fabiano Caruana from Italy.

In the fourth round tonight, Liem will play Negi Parimarjan (Elo 2641) from India, who earlier drew him at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival in the UK.

HCM City hosts international 2012 HDBank chess tourney

The 2012 international HDBank chess tournament will take place in Ho Chi Minh City from March 1-8.

The tournament’s total cash prizes have amounted to US$30,000, with the top winner receiving US$10,000.

In a warm-up before the event, Vietnamese top player, grandmaster Le Quang Liem, will join an exchange program with 20 chess fans from numerous applicants for the program before February 15.

The Ho Chi Minh City Chess Federation will make an open draw on February 16 to select 20 competitors for the program, scheduled for February 22.

Futsal club to represent Vietnam

The Thai Son Nam futsal club will represent Vietnam in the Asia futsal club qualifying round for the South East Asia/East Asia zone on March 19-24 at Phu Tho Sports House in Ho Chi Minh City.

Thai Son Nam will join the Maccabi club from Australia and a representative from China in group A, while Group B brings together a team from Thailand, Indonesia's Pelindo FC and Myanmar's ACE FC.

The two teams to make the final round of the South East Asia/East Asia qualifiers will compete against six other clubs in the Asia futsal club final round. Japan, Iran and Lebanon – top three of Asian futsal clubs tournament in 2011 – are expected to play in the final round.

There are currently four countries seeking to host the final round, including Iran, Uzbekistan, Australia and Kuwait.

Tien Minh wants training partners of world-class levels

Vietnam’s number 1 badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh said he wants to practice with training partners of world-class levels in order to be well prepared for the coming 2012 London Olympics.

Minh, who has recently fallen from the 7th to 9th rank in the world due to his constant failures at international tournaments, said in an exclusive interview with Tuoi Tre that he is surrounded by challenges on his way to London this summer.

“The drop in the world ranking hurt me psychologically,” he said, adding the problems also come from his farewell to Indonesian coach Asep Suharno, and the poorly-developed training plan he is following.

Under the training schedule in preparation for the Olympics, Minh has daily practices with the Ho Chi Minh City badminton team, and will attend 2-3 international tours every two months, he said.

“This is my normal, annual training schedule.”

Minh added that for such a large target as the Olympics , he needs one to two practice partners who are of a world-class level like him.

“All of the Vietnamese players, though exerting an enormous effort, are still lagging far behind my ability,” he said.

Minh said most of the players in the world top-ten have to hire players of high ranks, usually those in the world top 30, to practice with.

Meanwhile, as for countries with high badminton development such as China or Indonesia, there is little difference in terms of level between their top players, so they can mutually perfect their skills by practicing with each other.

“I need to practice with partners with high ranks, who are capable of revealing my weaknesses for me to improve in time.

“At present, no Vietnamese players are able to do so, and I hope to be allowed to hire foreign players of high levels to partner with.

“However, I have repeatedly called on relevant agencies with this proposal, but received nothing so far.”

Commenting on his slip in the world ranking, Minh said he did try his best, and could not have done better.

“One of the most important causes for my failures is that my rivals have all become familiar with my playing strategies,” he explained.

“They studied my strategies via video tapes, and developed their own tactics to defend.”

Minh said several young players who he used to defeat, such as Chinese Chen Long (world number 3), Japanese Kenichi Tago (7), and Shon Wan Ho of Korea (19) are now 23-24, which is the top of their career development.

Minh said the farewell to expert Suharno also put him in trouble.

“Suharno not only trained me in playing skills and tactics, but also helped me greatly in life and psychological matters.”

“He has assisted me to remain in the world top-ten for the last two years. I did want to extend the contract with him, but failed eventually, as it was not something that I could decide.”

Volleyball tourney gets underway

Long An and host Trang An Ninh Binh lead the men's category after their first matches on Thursday at the Hoa Lu Volleyball Cup in Ninh Binh Province.

Long An defeated The Cong 3-0 and Ninh Binh beat PetroVietnam with the same score.

On the women's side, Vietsov Petro beat Tien Nong Thanh Hoa 3-0 while Thai Binh lost 0-3 to Lien Viet Bank.

Teams have taken part in a round-robin format competition with the top two teams heading to the final round.

The tournament will end on Sunday.

VN to host Olympic qualifier round

Viet Nam are qualified to host the men's Asia zone Olympic football play-off round, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has concluded after checking the country's preparation work and sports infrastructure.

My Dinh National Stadium, football training ground and hotels were among the facilities checked by the AFC.

Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF) Deputy General Secretary Duong Nghiep Khoi affirmed that the VFF would properly organise the matches and ensure security and safety for participants.

The competition will be held on March 25-31 with the participation of three teams ranked second in groups A, B and C in the third round of the Asian qualifiers and Senegal, a representative from Africa.–

Bodybuilders set for SEA champs

Viet Nam will compete at the 11th Southeast Asian Bodybuilding Championships on February 22-27 in Yangon City, Myanmar.

Athletes have been training since the beginning of the year and will compete in weight categories ranging from 55kg to 85kg. Among them, Nguyen Hai Au will defend his title in the men's 70kg pool after having won in 2010.

"We will definitely bring home gold medals as Viet Nam are one of the strongest teams in the region. But at present I do not want to reveal the secret about my team," said national team head coach Huynh Anh.

The championships are a trial run for the 27th Southeast Asian Games in Yangon next year, where bodybuilding will be included as one of the disciplines.

Vietnam vies for Asian Games

Vietnam has ranked among the top four candidates seeking the chance to host the 2019 Asian Games.

Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) Director General and Technical Director Husain Al-Musallam announced the names of the top four bidders on Feb. 7 at the OCA Media Committee meeting in Macau .

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Indonesia and Chinese Taiwan are the other candidates vying for the opportunity to host the continent's biggest sport's event.

Vietnam successfully organised the 22nd SEA Games in 2003 and the third Asian Indoor Games in 2009.

In a recent interview, Hoang Vinh Giang, general secretary of the Vietnam Olympics Committee, said Vietnam submitted a 6,000 billion VND (300 million USD) budget for the event, which is only one-eighth of what China spent two years ago.

The General Assembly will select the winner at the Macau Galaxy on November 3. /.

Asian football chiefs check infrastructure in Hanoi

Representatives from the Asian Football Federation arrived in Vietnam on Feb. 9 to check infrastructure in preparation for the men's Asia zone Olympic football play-offs round.

During the two-day visit, they plan to examine My Dinh National Stadium and its function rooms.

The round will be held on March 25-31 with the participation of three teams who rank second in groups A, B and C in the third round of the Asian qualifiers and Senegal , a representative from Africa . /.

U19 team to compete in Brunei

Vietnam's under-19 national football team will join Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Timor Leste in group B at the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy according to its draw results.

Meanwhile, group A includes Indonesia, Laos, Singapore, Philippines, Myanmar and hosts Brunei.

This event, also known as the Southeast Asian U-21 Football Championship, will take place from February 25 to March 5 at Sultan Hassanal Boliah stadium in Brunei.

This is an opportunity for the Vietnamese team to prepare for the Asian U-19 Championship in November in the United Arab Emirates.