Top Vietnamese badminton players will leave on Sunday to compete in the Sudriman Cup 2015, to be held in Dongguan in China, from May 10 to 17.

The team includes world number 29 Nguyen Tien Minh, world number 58 Vu Thi Trang and world number 280 Pham Cao Cuong.

The competition in the tournament has been divided into four groups, with 12 teams competing for the title in the elite group. There are eight teams in the second and third group and seven teams in the fourth group.

Viet Nam are in the third group, along with the Czech Republic, Turkey, Australia and Italy, as well as South Africa, Austria and Switzerland.

Martial arts fighters to compete in world championships

The national taekwondo team will compete in the WTF World Taekwondo Championships 2015, to be held in Chelyabinsk in Russia, from May 12 to 18.

Nguyen Trong Cuong will be part of the Viet Nam national taekwondo team at the WTF World Taekwondo Championships, to be held in Chelyabinsk, Russia, from May 12 to 18. — Photo vietbao.vn

The 12-member team includes Southeast Games gold medallist Nguyen Trong Cuong and Asian Games silver medallist Nguyen Van Duy.

In the same event held in South Korea in 2011, Le Huynh Chau won a bronze medal in the men's 63kg category.

The biennial event's best fighters will be chosen to compete in the 2016 Summer Olympics, to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from August 5 to 21.

Australia top group with facile victory

The Australian U20 team faced no hiccup in topping Group A at the ASEAN Football Federation Women's Championship, thrashing Indonesia 7-0 yesterday at the Thong Nhat Stadium in HCM City.

It took Australia just 10 minutes to prise open the Indonesian defence with a thunderous shot from Jordan Baker that came off the underside of the crossbar.

Indonesia tried to regroup and worked hard to break the Australian attack but lacked the pace to be effective.

It was 2-0 for the Aussie in the 26th minute as Princess Ibini-Isei fired in from a tight angle and Baker grabbed her second goal three minutes later.

The first half ended with the scorecard 5-0 in Australia's favour, Emily Condon and Alexandra Chidiac contributing their mite.

Captain Olivia Price and Condo pushed the score further with a second-half goal each.

In an earlier game, Thailand made the semi-finals in style, overwhelming Laos 12-0 in their final game of the group.

It was the second time in two matches that Thailand have scored at least 10 goals. They had thrashed Indonesia 10-1 two days earlier.

"I did not expect to win by such a margin," Thai coach Nuengrutai Srathongvian was quoted as saying on the aseanfootball.org. "I thought that we would win of course by just two or three goals."

Alisa Rukpinij scored five goals, three in the first half and two in the second. Nisa Romyen pitched in with a hattrick, Orathai Srimanee grabbed a brace, and Taneekarn Dangda and Wilaiporn Boothduang also found the net once.

Australia and Thailand have to wait until this afternoon to know their semi-finals opponents. In the last matches of Group B, current leader Viet Nam will play the Philippines and Myanmar will face Malaysia.  

Central city to host Ironman race

More than 1,000 athletes from 54 countries and territories will compete in the Ironman, an international triathlon, in the coastal central city of Da Nang on May 10.

The triathletes would begin with a 1.9km ocean swim. Then they will race over a scenic two-loop 90km bike course before take part in a 21km run.

The athletes will take at least eight hours to finish a muscle sport race in hot tropical weather in the central city.

The event's organising committee said Hong Kong would send the largest team of 161 members.

The race offers US$15,000 in professional prize money.

Viet Nam is the 30th country in the world and the eighth Asia-Pacific country to host an Ironman triathlon.

VNS