VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen Hoang Thien and Nikola Milojevic battled it out in the final match of the China Junior 15 – Xiamen 2011 Tennis Championship on Saturday in Xiamen city but the Vietnamese player proved no match for his Serbian opponent.

Thien, who sent the tournament's Nos 2, 4 and 6 seeds home earlier in the week, failed to topple the No 1 seed who ranks 25th on the world junior list.

The Vietnamese quickly lost 2-6, 3-6 to win the silver medal.

Thien, the first Vietnamese player to win a berth at the Australian Open's under-18 players early this year, will stay in China for the China Junior 16 starting tomorrow in Beijing. He will also compete in other international tournaments in Japan and Hong Kong before heading home to prepare for the 26th Southeast Asian Games in November.

* Table tennis friendship tourney
The first ASEAN Friendship Table Tennis Tournament organised by the Consulate General of Indonesia in HCM City was attended by 38 amateur competitors from Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam on Saturday.

Representatives of the ASEAN Consulate General in HCM City, HCM City Union of Friendship Organisations and the municipal Department of External Relations came to take part the tournament, which is expected to be held annually.

The tournament, held to recognise Indonesia as the current chairman of ASEAN, aimed to increase solidarity and friendship among the ASEAN community.

"I hope this gathering can become an event to enhance people-to-people contacts, and to foster friendship among communities of ASEAN-member countries in HCM City," said Bambang Tarsanto, consul general of Indonesia in HCM City, at the opening ceremony.

"The ASEAN community benefits the peoples of Southeast Asia as well as the global community," he said.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News