International martial art festival to take place in August

The south-central province of Binh Dinh will host the fifth Vietnam International Martial Art Festival 2014 from August 1-4.

Themed Preserving and Promoting the traditional Vietnamese martial art, the cultural-sport event will take place in three venues in the province: Quy Nhon city, An Nhon town, and Tuy Phuoc district.

Highlight of the festival will be the opening ceremony on August 1 in Quy Nhon city with the participation of domestic and foreign martial artists of different ages.

Binh Dinh will also receive a certificate recognising its traditional martial art as national intangible cultural heritage.

Domestic and foreign artists will compete in both combat and demonstration at different weight categories for both men and women.

The traditional Vietnamese martial art is being practised in approximately 50 countries worldwide.

Tien Minh seeded No1 at int’l badminton champs

Top Vietnamese player, Nguyen Tien Minh has been selected as the men’s single No1 seed at the 5th Ciputra Hanoi Yonex Sunrise Vietnam Challenge International Badminton Championships.

The tournament will attract many outstanding foreign players, including Chun Seang Tan of Malaysia (world No 50), Tzu Wei Wang of Taiwan (world No 67), Chia-Hsin Wan of Taiwan (world No 77) and Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong (world No 83).

According to the draw, Tien Minh will compete against Vincent Cheng Wei Phuag of Malaysia in the first round.

In the women’s singles, two Vietnamese athletes Le Thu Huyen and Vu Thi Trang are seeded No 3 and No 4, respectively, the World’s No 72 Chia Hsin Lee of Taiwan will also attend the event.

Winners will be awarded US$1,000 and receive 4,000 individual points in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings.

The tournament will begin on March 25 at Hanoi’s  Cau Giay Sport Indoor Stadium and last through to March 30.

Local tennis players train abroad

Four Vietnamese tennis players Le Quoc Khanh, Trinh Linh Giang, Pham Minh Tuan, and Huynh Chi Khuong left Vietnam on March 21 for a training course in Singapore.

The four Davis Cup trainees were accompanied by two coaches Michael Baroch and Truong Quoc Bao to join the training, which will last until March 25. Two top seeds Do Minh Quan and Nguyen Hoang Thien were not included in the course.

During their stay in Singapore, the Vietnamese players will practice with the Singaporean national tennis team to gain more experience and hone their professional skills.

They will then convene in the Central Highland city of Da Lat for further training, which will also involve outstanding player Do Minh Quan after his scheduled return from the US on March 24.

In the first round of the Davis Cup 2014 qualifier (Group 2), the Vietnamese team was defeated 2-3 by Pakistan.

They will next compete against Sri Lanka in a play-off match in Da Lat from April 4-6 in the hope of getting a berth to proceed to the next round.

Quy Phuoc clinches gold at national swimming champs

In a truly dominating performance, Vietnam’s top swimmer Hoang Quy Phuoc has won three gold medals at the ongoing 2014 National Swimming and Diving Championships, taking place in central Thua Thien Hue province from March 19-23.

The 21-year old swimmer finished first in three events – men’s 50m backstroke, men’s 50m butterfly, and men’s 400m free style. So far this year, Quy Phuoc has plucked seven gold medals in single events.

In the men’s 400m free style event, Quy Phuoc broke his own record set a year earlier, coming in at 3:56:17, or seven seconds faster.

In the women’s event, 13-year-old Tran Thi Hong Cam, from the Long An sporting delegation, secured two gold medals for her team.

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Yen from Quang Binh claimed victory in the women’s 200m backstroke event, while her teammate Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh won a gold medal at the 100m breaststroke event.

Nguyen Thi Kim Tuyen of HCM City placed first in the women’s 200m mixed event, setting a record time of 4:25:79.

After three days of competition, Danang currently holds the lead with 9 gold medals, followed by HCM City with eight gold and Long An, Dong Nai, Haiphong, and Quang Binh with two gold.

This year’s champs have attracted 170 athletes from 17 sporting delegations across from the country. They are competing for 66 sets of medals in 24 diving events and 42 swimming events.

SEA Games gold medallist Pham Thi Binh gave her rivals no chance to shine at the Tien Phong Newspaper Cross-country and Marathon in Da Lat City yesterday.

The 25-year-old had no difficulty winning the women's marathon event, which was organised for the first time in its 55-year history.

Binh from Quang Ngai Province finished 42km in eight laps around Xuan Huong Lake with a time of 2hr 54min 32sec to win her title.

The full marathon title is her first, though Binh won the gold medal in the 21km category during the two previous years.

"It is an easy competition for me, though the other runners are worthy rivals. I stay ahead from the beginning and run comfortably without any threat from them," said Binh, who ran on bare-feet.

"It is a friendly tournament, so I don't have to try hard to avoid injuries. My coach knows my ability, so he lets me run freely without setting any target for breaking a record," added Binh, who left her nearest rival 2km behind at the finish.

Hoang Thi Thanh of the Military came in second, with a time of 3:01.53, followed by Lam Thi Thuy from Binh Phuoc at 3:09.06.

On the men's side, soldier Bui The Anh won the title after running 2:30.52. It was his first-ever Tien Phong title, after several races.

Dinh Quang Phuong of Lam Dong and Tran Van Loi of Binh Phuoc were second and third, respectively.

A surprise occurred in the men's 10km race for professional athletes as Nguyen Dang Duc Bao of Khanh Hoa left SEA Games champion Nguyen Van Lai behind to take the gold medal.

Bao completed the race in 31min 21.28sec, nearly 2sec faster than runner-up Nguyen Van Hau of the Military, while Lai, also a soldier, came in third with a time of 31:40.61.

"It does not mean that the SEA Games champion would win other events of the same distance. Running indoors and outdoors are very different," said Nguyen Manh Hung, deputy general secretary of the Viet Nam Athletics Federation, when talking about Lai's being defeated.

Meanwhile, Do Thi Thao claimed the title of women's 5km for professional athletes. The capital city woman finished with a time of 17:26.15, leaving her rivals, Nguyen Thi Oanh of Bac Giang and Nguyen Thi Bich Tram from Khanh Hoa far behind as she reached the finish line.

In the race for youths, Le Van Thao from Thanh Hoa and Pham Thi Hue of Quang Ninh won gold medals.

On the team ranking, Khanh Hoa, who sent the largest number of participants, pocketed the top position for the 10th race in a row. The Military and hosts Lam Dong were runner-ups.

The Tien Phong event is an annual tournament. This year nearly 260 runners took part in 10 categories for both professionals, youths and amateurs.

Thien enters main round at ITF tournament

Vietnamese national runner-up Nguyen Hoang Thien advanced yesterday to the main round of the ITF F1 Men's Future in the Philippines.

Thien defeated Vernon Agnelli Huibonhoa of the Philippines 6-0, 6-0.

His teammate, Artern Vu, however, lost 5-7, 1-6 to No 2 seed Andrew Ochotta of Canada.

The US$15,000 will conclude on March 30.

Thien and Vu will then fly to Kuching, Malaysia, for the second leg at Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) Tennis Centre from March 31 to April 6.

National No 1 Ly Hoang Nam, who was ousted from the 25th Mitsubishi-Lancer International Junior Championships, will also compete at this event.

In other tennis news, Vietnamese Trinh Linh Giang is to participate at the Speaker Cup International Junior Championships in Chinese Taipei, March 25-30.

Giang began in the main round, while his teammate, Nguyen Dac Tien, was defeated 1-6, 4-6 by Lo Chien Hsun of the host during the first qualifying round yesterday.

Chess masters to checkmate in Da Lat

The National Chess Championships will be kicked off in Da Lat City, Lam Dong Province, on Friday.

Masters will compete for men's and women's individual titles.

The finals are schedule for April 6.

The tournament will be the last test for female masters, as Viet Nam Chess Federation officials select the strongest athletes to join the national teams and take part in the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships, which will be held at the end of April in Russia and the Southeast Asian Chess Championships at about the same time in Singapore.

Beach volleyball athletes busy with tourneys

The beach volleyball season will begin on Thursday with the national championships Tour 1 in Phu Yen Province.

Tour 2 will be organised in Hai Phong in September, while the final round is scheduled in Khanh Hoa Province in December.

Meanwhile, the national athletes will have a busy calendar with six international competitions this year.

The women's team will compete at the Tuan Chau-Ha Long Women's Beach Volleyball Open next month.

The next tournaments for both men and women are the Asian Beach Volleyball Beach Tour in Thailand in April, the 17th Asian Games in South Korea in September, the fourth Asian Beach Games in Thailand in November and the Asian Championships in China, also in November.

The young athletes will test their skills at the qualifying round of the China Youth Olympics from April 2-6 in Thailand.

Ha Noi T&T are new U-19 champs

Ha Noi T&T beat Song Lam Nghe An 5-4 in a penalty shootout to win the National U-19 Football Championship at Pleiku Stadium yesterday.

No goals were scored during regular play time.

With the trophy at stake, both sides began attacking from the very first minute, creating and missing chances.

In the final shoot-out, all of the Hanoian players made no mistake in finding the net, while Nghe An's Phu Nguyen failed to beat the T&T custodian.

It's the second time that T&T have won the trophy. In 2011, Nghe An had also lost to Ha Noi on penalties in the final match.

Semi-finalists Hoang Anh Gia Lai and Viettel drew their third-place match.

Nguyen Quang Hai of Ha Noi T&T won the Best Player award for the tournament and his teammate Quang Tuan was chosen the Best Goalkeeper.

Ho Tuan Tai of Nghe An and Ho Minh Toan of Hoang Anh Gia Lai scored three goals each to share the Top Scorer award.

Hosts Hoang Anh Gia Lai won the Fair Play award.

Nam in Mitsubishi-Lancer doubles semi-final

Ly Hoang Nam of Viet Nam and his Russian partner Bogdan Bobrov yesterday booked a berth in the semi-final round of the 25th Mitsubishi-Lancer International Junior Championships' boys' doubles in Manila, the Philippines.

The No 2 seed pair won 6-3, 6-4 over Mitchell Harper/Hei Yin Andrew Li. They will next meet Alexander Klintcharov/Rhett Purcell, No 5 seed, who defeated Chien Hsun Lo/Cing-Yang Meng 6-7 (3), 6-1 [10-2] yesterday.

Earlier, No 6 seed Nam was eliminated by No 4 Kang Ku-keon of South Korea 6-3, 6-3 in the boys' singles event.

Marathon brings 1,000 runners to Hue

Nearly 1,000 athletes will race in the annual provincial marathon at the city's Sport Centre today, according to a statement from the race's organising committee.

Runners will compete in the men's 6km and women's 4km marathon winding through the main streets of the city. The organising committee will also hold races for amateur and mass divisions.

It will be the 23rd time the annual race has been held.