Grandmaster Liem wins fifth round at Fujairah Masters

Vietnamese Super Grandmaster Le Quang Liem defeated Safarli Eltaj of Azerbaijan in the fifth round of the Fujairah International Chess Masters Tournament in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday.

After five rounds Liem has 3.5 points and ranks sixth.

The current leader is Ukrainian Sergey Fedorchuk, who earned four points. Etienne Bacrot of France and Alexander Moiseenko of Ukraine are hot on the heels of the Ukrainian leader.

During the next round Liem will play China's Ma Qun.

National Muay Thai fighters to compete in HCM City

The National Muay Thai Championships will kick off on Thursday at HCM City's Nguyen Du Gymnasium.

More than 250 fighters from 17 teams have registered and organisers said that the number would be even higher when the deadlines comes tomorrow.

Participants will compete in 18 weight categories for both men and women.

Muay has been developing strongly in Viet Nam, especially in HCM City, during the past three years.

Thai pilots win Viet Nam Paragliding Open

Chakrit Baeppaend yesterday won the Viet Nam Paragliding Open's men's category in Hoa Binh Province.

Baeppaend of Thailand took the gold medal with 110 points, followed by Tanapat Luangiam and Phati Kosalaraksa also from Thailand.

"I am happy because I took the top prize. Despite the first time this event was organised in Viet Nam I found it to be organised well and hope that there will be more of these tournaments here," Baeppaend said.

Thai pilots also dominated in the women's event. Plaifha Thongdonpum was first with 708 points. Pattarin Insornsart and Nutcha Prariyapanish were second and third, respectively.

Host Viet Nam sent 27 pilots but did not win a single prize. The three best local competitors were Hoang Mong Long, Luu Minh Son and Nguyen Quang Chuan.

Tengku Abdillah Bin Tengku Hassan, deputy president of the International Air Sports Federation, said Vietnamese athletes had made remarkable progress compared with previous competitions.

Hassan strongly believed that in the next five to 10 years, Viet Nam would grab regional and international medals.

VietNamNet/VNS