Tien Minh plays in Kopiko Purple League

Nguyen Tien Minh is playing for the Petaling Jaya club at the ongoing Malaysian Purple League, also known as the Kopiko Purple League.

In the first match, 30-year-old Minh beat 18-year-old Tan Vi Hen 11-8, 11-9, 11-3, helping his team beat Petaling BC 4-2 in the final score.

On Saturday, Minh, who is also the 2013 World Championship bronze medallist, will play one more match for Petaling Jaya.

The US$619,000 inaugural league has 12 teams representing 12 cities. It is being held at the Datuk Lee Chong Wei Sports Arena (also known as Sports Arena Sentosa), and will end on February 1 next year.

In other news, Malaysia began defending their title at the Axiata Cup with a relatively easy 3-1 triumph over Viet Nam in their first match in the preliminary round, at the Britama Arena in Jakarta yesterday.

World No 32 Chong Wei Feng defeated Nguyen Hoang Nam 21-13, 21-17. However, Ho Yen Mei found world No 51 Vu Thi Trang too hot to handle and went down 19-21, 13-21.

In the men's doubles, Hoon Thien How and Tan Boon Heong made it a 2-1 win by defeating Dao Manh Thang and Le Ha Anh 21-17, 21-18, before Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying completed the rout with a 21-16, 21-13 win over Duong Bao Duc and Dang Kim Ngan in the mixed doubles.

Olympian Minh will play only one match for Viet Nams team in the Axiata Cup, against the Philippines on December 1. After that, he will return to play in the Purple League.

Vinh beats own record

Shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh broke his own world record in the men's 10m air pistol event at the ongoing National Sports Games at Ha Noi's National Sports Training Centre on Thursday.

Vinh, from the Military team, scored 207 points, breaking his world record of 202.8 points which he set at the International Shooting Sport Federation's Rifle and Pistol World Cup in the US in March.

Vinh's success has helped his team take the lead in the men's event with 1,753 points, followed by Hai Duong with 1,710 points and Ha Noi with 1,688 points.

The event, which has drawn 211 athletes from 15 teams nationwide, will finish tomorrow.

Table tennis event launched

The National Sports Games' table tennis event began on Thursday in the northern province of Hai Duong.

About 150 players from 15 provinces and cities are participating in the tournament. They will compete in seven categories, namely the men's and women's singles, team, doubles and mixed doubles events.

Hosts Hai Duong have sent 10 players who will compete in all events with the aim of winning at least two gold medals.