VietNamNet Bridge – Thailand and Malaysia's U21 national teams have agreed to compete at an international football tournament organised by Thanh Nien newspaper from October 13-23 in Pleiku, Gia Lai.

Last year, Malaysia were knocked out in the group stages while Thailand made it to the semi-finals where they were beaten by Viet Nam, who eventually took the title with a 2-1 win over Iran.

* Suharno says goodbye to HCM City

Indonesian coach Asep Suharno has stepped down as coach of HCM City's leading badminton players following an unsuccessful run with the country's top player, Nguyen Tien Minh.

Suharno took up the job two years ago in what was seen as a positive move for Vietnamese badminton. His resume included top club Dusdiklat Pelista in Jakarta where he helped men's doubles pair Markiskdo and Hendra Setia win the world championships and a bronze medal at the Olympics. Suharno also coached leading players such as former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat, Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Simon Santoso.

Olympian Minh is having difficulties this year, having slid to ninth in the latest world rankings leading to the departure of his foreign coach.

Minh and 10 other Vietnamese players will take part in the Thomas and Uber Cup Asian zone preliminary rounds from February 14-19 in Macau.

The qualifying round will attract 14 teams, including China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Sri Lanka.

* Weightlifters eye Olympic qualifiers

Vietnamese weightlifters are gathering in Ha Noi and HCM City to prepare for the Asian zone London Olympic qualifying round from April 22-30 in Pyeongtaek, South Korea.

World Championship bronze medallist Tran Le Quoc Toan and talented youngster Thach Kim Tuan, who won three gold medals at a world youth competition last year, are two great hopes in the men's 56kg category.

The athletes will be looking for strong performances in order to secure berths to London this summer.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News