Vietnam remain in 147th position in FIFA ranking

With 200 points, Viet Nam rank third in the Southeast Asian region.

Viet Nam's national football team saw no change to their position in the latest FIFA world rankings, remaing 147th in the world.

With 200 points, Viet Nam rank third in the Southeast Asian region. Thailand rose up 11 spots to No 133 and lead the region, followed by the Philippines in No 139 spot and Singapore at No 149.

Belgium retains top spot with Argentina and Spain in second and third place respectively.   

Nguyen Tien Minh enters semi-finals of US badminton event

Vietnamese top badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh qualified for the semi-final's in the men's singles at the US Yonex International badminton tournament.

Olympian Minh defeated Yu Jen Chi of Chinese Taipei 21-5, 21-7 and world No 89 Ville Lang of Finland 21-18, 21-12 in the second and third round.

No 4 seed and world No 46 Minh then crushed Ting Hsu Jui of Chinese Taipei, world No 346 21-14, 21-12 in the quarter-final match.

The HCM City-born player will face Emil Holst of Denmark in the next round.

Meanwhile, Duong Bao Duc and Thai Thi Hong Gam lost to No 1 seed Michael Fuchs and Birgit Michels of Germany 5-21, 19-21 in the mixed doubles quarter-finals.

The tournament will last until December 12 in Orlando, Florida.

Wind wreaks havoc on play at Ho Tram Open

Day Two of the US$1.5 million Asian Tour Ho Tram Open teed off yesterday morning into brisk winds which saw scores start to balloon as the day wore on.

At 2pm, the officials had to suspend play until it settled down a bit at 4pm. Players who had hoped to make a move saw their opportunities blown away.

The course itself is in incredible shape and never looked better. Greens were rolling around 11.5 and players could not complain about that as there wasn't a single blade of grass out of place. Unfortunately, fast greens and heavy wind makes for a lethal combination and the players were hard pressed to just maintain par.

While Day One highlights included a Hole in One by Taewoo Kim on the 137-yard seventh hole, the star of Day Two was the wind.

Yet not everyone was befuddled.

Chinese Taipei Lin Wen-tang put up a nice total of 132 (65-67) from Charlie Wi who was the clubhouse leader after the first round after posting a blazing 62 (9-under par).

Unfortunately, Wi had his problems on Day Two and was sitting at 4-under par due to a round shortened by darkness.

The surprise of Day One was when Michael Tran, a Vietnamese professional who plays on the Asian Tour, finished the first round at 5-under par, much to the delight of the locals who came out to see the event. Despite his best efforts, Tran could only finish at even par after the second round due to the wind.

"Darren and Jeev are great players and I wanted to do as good as them but today I played better so I'm very happy. I three-putted the first hole (bogey) but hit it close on hole two, four, and six. Those were very good birdies because it was howling," said Tran.

Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke had some major problems out there and despite a respectable first round 73, got blown all over the place in the second round limped in to a 9-over par, missing the projected cut of 1-over par.

Tran's other playing partner, Jeev Milka Sinh fared slightly better with a two round total of 143 (70-73) just above the projected cut line.

Tournament favourite, Sergio Garcia, finished the first round with a 5-under par.