The 2015 World Martial Arts Festival will be held in HCM City from April 19-25.

The competition is expected to attract thousands of athletes competing in 20 disciplines from all over the world, including China, Japan, and Canada.

A martial arts workshop and exchanges between competitors will also take place.

The tournament is being co-organised by the World Martial Arts Union, the National Sports Administration and HCM City's People's Committee.

Vien's US training to cost $200,000

Viet Nam's foremost female swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien has left for the United States to continue her long-term training session, which will cost US$200,000.

Swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien – Photo: PNOL

The expenses will be borne by the National Sports Administration and her Military Club.

Vien will train at the Saint Augustine Centre in Florida under the guidance of coach Cray Anthony Teeters, a member of the Gator Club, where the world's leading swimmers have trained, such as Ryan Lochte and Elizabeth Beisel.

The Can Tho Province-born swimmer aims to win at least four gold medals this year at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in Singapore and achieve an A Standard to represent the country at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.

Gymnast Thanh announces retirement

Hanoian artistic gymnast Nguyen Ha Thanh has decided to retire from competitive sports at the age of 26 years to focus on coaching.

SEA Games winner Thanh, who is one of many such athletes residing in the capital, said he is unlikely to recover his old athleticism after his knee surgery and would therefore like to coach the Ha Noi team instead.

Thanh became the first gymnast to win a gold medal for Viet Nam at the Artistic Gymnastics FIG World Cup in Czech in 2012.

Women's volleyball event to kick off

The annual International Women's Volleyball Championships is scheduled to kick off in March.

The winners of this year's tournament will walk away with US$15,000, while the runners-up will receive $6,000. Prizes will also be awarded to outstanding individuals.

The tournament, which is also known as the VTV-Binh Dien Cup, will see the participation of four domestic and four foreign teams competing in a round robin format before the top four teams progress to the semi-finals.

Viet Nam will be represented by LienVietPostBank, VTV-Binh Dien Long An, Vietinbank and Thanh Hoa, while the foreign invitees are Kazakhstan, Fujian Club of China, Bangkok Glass of Thailand and North Korea.

Mountain-climbing contest opens

Nearly 1,000 climbers from 20 teams nationwide will participate in the national mountain-climbing tournament, Conquering Ba Ra Mountain 2015, today in Phuoc Long Town, Binh Phuoc Province.

The climbers will compete in individual and team categories for eight sets of medals. The male professionals will compete in the 7.7km event, while the women will compete in the 5.4km event. Amateur and youth competitors will race in the 6km, 5.4km, 7.7km and 4.8km, as well as the 4.2km events.

The winners of the annual tournament will walk away with a total prize money of VND200 million (US$9,500).

Defending champion from the host province of Binh Phuoc Hoang Thanh Nguyen and silver medallist Tran Van Loi will participate in this year's event.

Source: VNS