VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam's footballers yesterday, Oct 19, avoided being drawn in the 'dead group' at the coming 26th Southeast Asian Games in Jarkata, Indonesia.

As part of Group B, the national team will compete against the Philippines, Myanmar, East Timor, Brunei and Laos.

Group A, in turn, consists of defending champions Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Cambodia.

As the first runner-up team from the last Games, Viet Nam has been seeded second at this year's tournament.

The country's toughest challenge is set to be Myanmar, who it beat 0-5 during the first match of the VFF Cup in Ha Noi yesterday.

The two sides will meet again on November 5.

SEA organisers also set up a futsal (indoor football) event yesterday in which Viet Nam will play the Philippines and Indonesia in Group A while Thailand, Malaysia and Myanmar battle it out in Group B.

Liem leads group A in Spice Cup after draw with Frenchman Feller

Viet Nam's top chess player Le Quang Liem drew with Sebastien Feller from France in his third match at the Spice Cup in the US on Tuesday.

Grandmaster Liem is leading group A with seven points, followed by Lienier Dominguez from Cuba with five points and American Yury Shulman with four points.

In his previous matches, Liem, who has an Elo rating of 2717, defeated Yury Shulman and Georg Meier of Germany.

The two-time Aeroflot champion is scheduled to meet Ray Robson from the US in his next match.

The six Grandmasters invited to the Cup are Liem, Dominguez, Feller, Meier, Shulman and Robson.

The tournament, which will finish on October 25, has the highest average Elo in the history of the US tournaments, with a of minimum 2583.

After the Spice Cup, the HCM City-born is going to join the Vietnamese team for the 26th Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia in November.

In December he will also play the SportAccord Mind Games in China.

National wall climbing team gets $15,000 sponsorship from Let's Viet

The national wall climbing team will be sponsored US$15,000 by Let's Viet, a Vietnamese entertainment channel.

Wall climbing is one of six new events which the hosts Indonesia have introduced to the upcoming Southeast Asian Games.

The team includes six members from HCM City. Three of them Bui Van Ngoi, Phan Thanh Nhien and Bui Van Ngoi were the first Vietnamese climbers to reach the summit of Everest in 2008.

At present, the team is training hard in HCM City's Phan Dinh Phung Sports Centre under the guidance of Kenneth Bruce Fudgeis, director of the X-rock Climbing Club.

Nghe An to sign former Trinidad & Tobago striker

V-League champion Song Lam Nghe An are expected to sign striker Cornell Glen for the coming season.

The 30-year-old from Trinidad&Tobago wore the national jersey for 59 matches and scored 23 goals. He was called into the national team for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, pairing with former Manchester United player Dwight Yorke in several matches.

He is expected to replace foreign players who left the team after a successful season.

Apart from Cornell, Nghe An are also testing defensive midfielder Clyde Leon, 29, also from Trinidad&Tobago.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News