Grandmaster Liem climbs in rankings

Le Quang Liem has jumped to world No 37 according to the International Chess Federation's April rankings.

The news sees the Vietnamese Grandmaster return to the world's top 40 players with an elo rating of 2,710 after collecting points at the HDBank Open tournament last month in HCM City. Liem finished third with seven points, equal with teammate champion Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son after nine rounds.

Son currently trails in the world rankings at number 165 with an elo of 2,612.

The top spot belongs to Magnus Carlsen of Norway who has an elo of 2,881.

There are currently no Vietnamese players in the Women's Top 100.

Nguyen Thi Mai Hung is Viet Nam's top ranking junior player at number 15 on the girls leader board.

Minh, Trang to compete in Singapore Open

Vietnamese players Nguyen Tien Minh and Vu Thi Trang will participate in the OUE Singapore Open badminton tournament to be held from April 8 to 13.

World No 10 Minh is the No 7 seed in the main round of the men's singles event and will meet Chou Tien Chen, No 23, in the first-round match.

His female teammate Vu Thi Trang has to start with the qualifying stage.

The annually held Open, which is of the super series system, also has the doubles events in the men's, women's and mixed categories. The winners will walk away with a total of US$300,000.

Vinh shoots his way to fourth spot

World record holder Hoang Xuan Vinh finished fourth in the men's 50m pistol event at the ongoing International Sport Shooting Federation World Cup Rifle and Pistol World Cup Stage at Fort Bennings in the US.

The Vietnamese shooter scored 557 points in qualification, enough to enter the last-eight.

His teammate, Tran Quoc Cuong, shot only 553 points to finish 15th.

In the finals, Vinh bagged 147.1 points to finish fourth.

The top three were Anton Gourianov of Russia, Tomoyuki Matsuda from Japan and Serbian Zlatic Andrija.

Vinh won a gold and broke the world record in the 10m air pistol event last week.

Vietnam U19 squad to compete in France

After a harrowing defeat in Belgium, Vietnam’s U19 football team is regrouping for competition in France – the homeland of chief coach Guillaume Graechen.

The Vietnamese footballers suffered a distressing 1-2 loss to the Belgium & Ghana JMG team in a friendly match in Belgium on April 1.

They now fly to France on April 4 to play against the three time French championship title holder French U21 Lille, currently ranked third in the Ligue 1 tournament.

Vietnam’s U19 squad has lost to foreign rivals in four out of their five most recent matches overseas.

France is home to many famous footballers, including prodigy Eden Hazard – one of most prominent young strikers in the world.

Korean tourism industry supports Vietnamese athletes

A fundraising drive in the Republic of Korea (RoK) was launched on April 2 to support the participation of Vietnamese athletes in the 2014 Asian Games and Asian Para Games, scheduled to get underway in Incheon, later this year.

The event, sponsored by – The Korean Tourism Organization (KTO) – drew the participation of many airlines, travel agents, and those operating in the fields of finance, entertainment, and communications.

In addition to assisting athletes attend the Asian Games, the funds will also be used to training local junior sportsmen.

KTO chief representative in VietnamKang Sungghil said all contributions from donors will be sent to the Vietnam National Olympic Committee.

Kang revealed that the Korean Tourism Year launched by his organization last year achieved positive results during which the number of Vietnamese visitors to the RoK saw a 10% increase, from 106,000 in 2012 to 117,000 in 2013.

In the first quarter of 2014, the RoK welcomed more than 34,000 Vietnamese tourists, up 38.7% from a year earlier, he reported.

Hoa defends chess title

Nguyen Duc Hoa and Hoang Thi Nhu Y won the National Chess Championships which wrapped up yesterday in Da Lat City.

International master Hoa of Kien Giang successfully defended his title after winning 8.5 points after 11 matches. While HCM City's Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy came in second and Nguyen Van Huy of Ha Noi and Cao Sang of the hosts shared third place.

On the women's side, Bac Giang's Y pocketed her gold with nine points. Hoang Thi Bao Tram of Ha Noi was second, followed by her teammate Luong Phuong Hanh and No 1 seed Pham Le Thao Nguyen of Can Tho.

The national tournament attracted 64 masters competing in men's and women's individual categories. 

VNS/VNA/ND/VOV