Tien Minh moves up world ranking



Viet Nam's top badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh has moved up one place from ninth to eight in the latest world rankings released by the World Badminton Federation.


Falling behind Olympian Minh is Pengyu Du of China, who was defeated by Minh 21-18, 21-15 in the second round of the recent All England Badminton Championship, which closed on Sunday


The top five players remained unchanged, headed by Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, Lin Dan of China who defeated Minh in the quarter-finals of the All England event on Saturday, Peter Hoeg Gade of Denmark and Chen Long of China.


Rising star Bao Chunlai of China was ousted from the top ten, dropping five places.


PVF to enrol young football talent


The Promotion Fund of Vietnamese Football Talents (PVF) will start enrolling young players on its third course today.

Some 50 boys of between 10 and 12 years old will be selected from thousands of hopefuls from 32 provinces and cities nationwide for the seven-year programme.


"The boys must have an aptitude for football, strong physical strength and a passion for the game, because they will go on to become the next generation of young professionals, helping to advance the sport in Viet Nam," according to Nguyen Xuan Nam, director of the PVF.


The students will start training for free in the HCM City under the guidance of foreign and local coaches.


The PVF said it hoped that this year's intake would include players strong enough to go on and earn their places on the national team, or play for foreign clubs.


The PVF is a non-governmental and non-profit organisation that finances and trains talented young footballers throughout the country.


Lien Viet Bank win volleyball tourney


Lien Viet Bank won the Spring Cup-Lien Viet Bank, a volleyball tournament for women that wrapped up on Sunday at Bac Ninh Province's Gymnasium.


They crushed Vietsov Petro 3-0 in the final (25-14, 25-14, 25-21) to take a cash prize of VND100million (US$4,500).

In the third place playoff, the Viet Nam Bank for Industry and Trade team defeated PV Oil Thai Binh 3-0.


Pham Thi Yen and Do Thi Minh of Lien Viet Bank won the awards for the best player and best attacker, respectively.


VietNamNet/Viet Nam News