Students to compete at Asian tourney

Viet Nam will compete in an Asian football tournament for under-17 students in Thailand from November 6 to 16.

HCM City's U17 team will represent Viet Nam at the event.

Coach Do Hoang Son said there were several outstanding players in his team who would compete at the First Division in HCM City next year.

Nat’l shooting champs to start next week

The 49th national shooting championship will be held at the National Sports Training Centre in Hanoi from October 22 – November 1.

Sharpshooters will compete in 14 categories for men and 10 categories for women for individual and team medals.

The event provides an opportunity for shooters to sharpen their skill, and selected to the national team for the 27th Southeast Asia Games (SEA Games) later this year in Myanmar.

Tam speeds to road-race glory in cycling champ

Nguyen Thanh Tam of An Giang province sprinted to victory in the men's road race event at the National Cycling Championships which wrapped up in Vung Tau city on October 16.

The winner finished the 155km tour with a time of 3hr 50.38min, reaching an average speed of 40.324km per hour. He was among the first riders who launched the first attack in the final race of the championships.

They led the whole peloton for over 10km before being caught by the team of the military. About 25km to the finish mark, Huynh Thanh Tung of the Military and Tam escaped from all the other riders to set up a tete-a-tete finish. Tam came out on top at the crucial moment to win An Giang's sixth gold medal. Tung finished second and the third place went to his teammate Tran Le Minh Tuan.

With three athletes finishing in the first group, the Military won the team event with a time of 11:42.15, followed by An Giang and Vinh Long.

An Giang won six gold, five silver and two bronze medals in total, placing them at the top of the tournament rankings. Binh Duong unexpectedly finished second, with three golds, two silvers and two bronzes. Ho Chi Minh City came third with three golds, one silver and three bronzes.

The national tournament has attracted more than 100 athletes from nine teams competing for 18 sets of medals. A terrain cycling round will be organised separately on October 22 and 23 in Hoa Binh province.-

Defender Thanh to join Long An

V-League's Dong Tam Long An are continuing to strengthen their squad as they prepare to sign former national team defender Huynh Quang Thanh.

The two sides have agreed on all aspects of the contract which will become official after Thanh passes a medical test in the coming week.

"It can be considered that he (Thanh) is our man. What we need is his physicality. We will certainly sign him," said Vo Thanh Nhiem Long An's chairman.

Thanh, whose contract with Becamex Binh Duong expired after the 2012-13 season, will sign a two-year deal with Long An. He will receive VND30 million (US$1,400) per month.

Earlier, Long An lured striker Nguyen Viet Thang, also from Binh Duong, plus Phan Van Tai Em, whose team Sai Gon Xuan Thanh recently quit the V-League. Both were key members of the Viet Nam team that won the 2008 ASEAN Football Federation Cup.