Minh eyes badminton internationals

Viet Nam's top badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh will have an opportunity to climb further up in the world rankings at two international tournaments in China this November.

Minh, world No 11, will compete at the Li Ning China Open in Shanghai from today until Sunday. He is seeded No 7 in the US$400,000 tournament, behind world rankings stars such as Chen Long of China and Kenichi Tago of Japan.

In the first round, Minh will play world No 28 Rajiv Ouseph of England.

After the tournament, the Vietnamese No 1 will take part in the Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open from November 20-25.

Hung, Georgian chess player tie

Nguyen Thi Mai Hung fought hard to force a stalemate with Georgian No 1 seed Meri Arabidze in the fourth round of the women's U18 event at the World Youth Chess Championships in Slovenia.

She now has three points and will meet Marina Baraeva of Russia in the next round.

In the boys' U16 event, Le Tuan Minh tied with Gary Giroyan of France, while Tran Tuan Minh lost to Nikoloz Kumsiashvili.

In the fifth round, they will be seeking wins over Rasmus Svane of Germany and Yezhel Valiantsin of Belarus, respectively.

The boys's U12 event saw Vietnamese success when Tran Minh Thang and Nguyen Dang Hong Phuc easily overcame lower-ranked German and Slovenian rivals.

In the next round, Thang will have a chance to improve his score against Robby Kevlishvili of the Netherlands, while Phuc will have a difficult match against tough Chinese player Zhu Yi.

Air gun shooters to compete in China

The fifth Asian Air Gun Championships will be organised from December 12-18 at the Nanchang Wanli Shooting Centre in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China.

More than 110 marksmen will compete in men's and women's individual and team 10m air pistol and air rifle events, which are divided into three categories for seniors, juniors and youth.

The competition will be conducted according to rules and regulations of the International Shooting Sport Federation and Asian Shooting Confederation.

Among federations, India is set to send the largest number of competitors, with 36 shooters, followed by Chinese Taipei with 22 and Kuwait with 18.

Viet Nam will take part with nine contenders including Olympians Hoang Xuan Vinh and Le Thi Hoang Ngoc, along with top shooter Tham Hong Thuy.

VietNamNet/VNS