Chess GM Quang Liem back to top 30

After winning the HDBank International Chess Championships, Vietnam’s No.1 chess player Le Quang Liem has added 7.8 points to his Elo and moved back up to 30th place in world rankings.

Although the World Chess Federation has yet to update its official rankings, the website 2700chess.com’s daily updates have Le Quang Liem’s total Elo at 2,716.8.

Liem’s new goal is breaking into the world chess Top 20.

Liem will need to compete in a number of prestigious tournaments to raise his Elo by a minimum of 20 points.

In 2011, Liem made it as high as 25th in the world after his inclusion in the third round of the World Chess Championship.

Viet Nam remain 30th in FIFA women's world rankings

The Viet Nam women's national football team retained their 30th position in the latest FIFA rankings for the first quarter of the year.

Viet Nam placed second in Southeast Asia with 1640 points, just one point behind world No 29, Thailand.

Meanwhile, Myanmar and Indonesia came in third and fourth with 1536 and 1346 points, respectively.

World No 3 Japan continued to dominate Asia with 2096 points, closely followed by Australia and North Korea which both have 1943 points.

The US remained on top of the world rankings with 2215 points, followed by Germany with 2163.

Ha Noi international badminton event underway

The Viet Nam Challenge-Ciputra Ha Noi International Badminton Tournament 2013 kicked off yesterday, March 26, in Trinh Hoai Duc Gymnasium.

The event, which runs until March 31, attracts 269 outstanding players from 14 countries and territories.They are completing in five events: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles.

The winner of each Challenge will receive 4,000 points towards their world ranking, while the two runners-up will get 3,400 and 2,800 points, respectively.

The organising board will also award cash prizes worth a total of US$15,000.

Viet Nam's top player Nguyen Tien Minh will not be competing in this year's tournament due to injury.

Local fighters to compete at Hong Kong karate open

Viet Nam will compete in the Chinese Hong Kong Karate Open which will be held on April 21-25.

The team will participate in both the kumite (combat) and kata (performance) events.

Former world champion Nguyen Hoang Ngan, who made a sweet return by snatching gold at the recent German Open after a two-year hiatus due to injuries, silver medallist at the 16th Asian Games Le Bich Phuong and gold medallists at the Southeast Asian Games Tran Hoang Diem Phuong and Nguyen Van Su will also feature in the event.

HAGL Arsenal JMG lose on penalties to finish sixth at Sanix Cup

Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) Arsenal JMG lost to Kyushu in their play-off match at the Sanix Cup in Japan on Saturday, finishing sixth overall.

After 90 minutes, scores were level at 3-3. However, Kyushu outperformed the Vietnamese representatives in the penalty shoot-out to triumph 4-1.

Earlier, HAGL were defeated 4-3 in the penalty shootout of their quarter final clash against their hosts Miura Gakuen – the defending champions of the Japan high-school tournament.

HCM City swimmers prevail at national short-course tournament

HCM City triumphed at the National Short-Course Swimming Championships which concluded at Thua Thien-Hue Aquatic Sports Centre on Saturday.

The team brought home 21 golds, 21 silvers and 10 bronzes.

Da Nang came second with 15 golds, three silvers and two bronzes. Notably, the team's young star Hoang Quy Phuoc grabbed 11 individual gold medals and broke six national records.

Quang Ninh finished third with two golds, two silvers and two bronzes.

At the finswimming event held in the same venue, Ha Noi finished first with nine golds, six silvers and five bronzes, followed by HCM City and Da Nang.

In another swimming competition, teenager Nguyen Thi Anh Vien bagged two gold and three bronze medals at the South Florida swimming championships in Fort Lauderdale City, US, breaking four national records. The 17-year-old has been voted the event's best swimmer.

The South Florida tournament drew the participation of 1,200 athletes from 100 clubs in South Florida and other athletes from Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba and Mexico.

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