Vietnam beat Thailand 2-0 in futsal to gain Group B lead

Viet Nam won their fourth match at the ASEAN Football Futsal Champion beating Thailand 2-0 yesterday in Malaysia.

The Vietnamese take the top position of Group B with 12 points and will play Australia in the semi-final match tomorrow.

Le Quoc Nam opened scoring at the 31st minute and Phung Trong Luan made it double just four minutes later.

Players of coach Bruno Forsomo unfortunately missed heaps of chances, including a penalty shoot by Bui Van Vu, which touched the right pole.

Head of Viet Nam Futsal Team, Tran Anh Tu, said it was an impressive victory as it was the first ever time they had beaten the region's best rivals, who received two red cards this match.

Football teams gear up for Toyota Mekong Club C’ship

Toyota Motor Asia Pacific will host the Toyota Mekong Club Championship in the southeastern province of Binh Duong starting from October 31.

The football tournament attracts four teams from four countries, Becamex Binh Duong (Vietnam); Hoang Anh Attapeu (Laos), Phnom Penh Crown (Cambodia) and a champion team in Myanmar.

The qualification round will take place on October 31 to find out teams for the finals on November 2. The champions will receive a cash prize of US$75,000. Second, third and fourth prize winners will respectively pocket US$50,000, US$30,000 and US$10,000.

The organizers will also grant US$3,000 in cash and a special gift from Toyota to the best footballer of the tournament.

The Toyota Mekong Club Championship is part of Toyota’s commitment to nurture young football talent in the region. This is the first year of the

tournament and Toyota expects to introduce more social activities in the near future.

UAE pose big obstacle to Viet Nam in U23 Asian Games

The UAE's U23 should be a tough challenge for Viet Nam's U23 in the last-eight rounds of the Asian Games as they are the tournament's present silver medallists.

The UAE are not strange to Viet Nam as the sides have played together five times. At these matches, Viet Nam won only one.

In the latest game, the UAE won 5-0 at the Asian Cup qualifier last year.

Their match will be aired live on SCTV channels starting at 4pm from Incheon City, South Korea.

Competitors flock to Ha Noi Moi Table Tennis Open

The third Ha Noi Moi Newspaper Table Tennis Open will begin tomorrow at the Ha Noi's Trinh Hoai Duc Gymnasium.

The annual tournament has lured about 300 athletes from 65 teams nationwide, who will compete in professional and amateur categories.

The finals are scheduled on Sunday.

A total bonus of VND120 million (US$5,700) will be delivered to the winners.

Vietnamese masters among top players at world event

Vietnamese master Luu Ha Bich Ngoc was among the top 10 players in the ongoing World Youth Chess Championships' U10 girls' category in South Africa.

Ngoc defeated Strendeva Viktoria of Bulgaria in the fourth round of the tournament yesterday, scoring 3.5 points. She now ranks fourth, after Russia's Zvereva Margarita, India's Darsana M S and the American Eswaran Aksithi.

Ngoc's next rival will be Zavivaeva Emilia of Russia.

Nguyen Anh Khoi is another Vietnamese player who figures among the top-ranked players in the competition.

He yesterday had an unexpected draw with Engel Luis of Germany, who was ranked lower than him.

Khoi slid from the second to the fifth position with 3.5 points.

The top three players were Rahul Srivatshav of India, Gavrilescu David of Romania and Zarubitski Viachaslau of Belarus.

The Vietnamese player will next meet David in the fifth round. 

VNS/ND/VNA