Vietnam tennis players compete in Davis Cup 2013

A five member Vietnam tennis team left Hanoi on September 8 for the 2013 Davis Cup tournament, the premier international team event in men’s tennis, taking place in the United Arab Emirates from September 11-15.

Five Vietnam players namely Do Minh Quan, Le Quoc Khanh, Nguyen Hoang Thien, Pham Minh Tuan, and Tran Hoang Anh Khoa are to compete in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group III against Cambodia, Hong Kong (China), Iran, Malaysia, Oman, Pacific Oceania, and hosts UAE.

The teams are divided into two pools to play in a round-robin format. The top two teams in each table will progress to a new 'promotion' pool and the two best teams from this pool are promoted to Asia/Oceania Zone Group II for 2014.

Meanwhile, the bottom two nations in each table are also placed in a new 'relegation' pool and the worst two teams in this table are relegated to Asia/Oceania Zone Group IV for 2014.

Defending champs begin campaign with stalemate

Title holders Viet Nam made a sluggish start to their campaign in the Southeast Asian Women's Football Championship with a goalless draw against Thailand.

The opening match in Group A, held at the Thuwunna Stadium in Yangoon, Myanmar, promised much but delivered little.

Group A has been labelled the ‘Group of Death' as it features regional giants Australia. Only the top two teams will advance to the semi-finals.

Viet Nam came out on top last year after defeating Myanmar 4-3 in a penalty shootout in the final in HCM City.

Xiangqi masters to compete in Can Tho

The National Xiangqi (Chinese chess) Team Championships will take place in Can Tho City from October 4-14.

Cities and provinces are allowed to send one men's and one women's team – each comprised of five athletes – to the annual tournament.

Masters will compete in classic and blitz events. Athletes who rank from 1st to 32nd place on the men's side and 1st to 16th on the women's will qualify to take part in the National Xiangqi First Division Championships next year.

HCM City lead fin-swimming tournament in capital

HCM City notched a blistering lead with two records, three gold, one silver and one bronze medal at the National Fin-swimming Championships in Ha Noi.

In second place, Thanh Hoa followed with one record, two golds, one silver and one bronze; while hosts Ha Noi were third with one gold, three silvers and two bronzes.

Nguyen Thanh Loc nabbed the first record for HCM City in the 100m men's surface singles; with a time of 36.47sec, or 0.06sec faster than the previous record. He later claimed another record with teammates in the 400m men's team bifins, beating the old record by 1sec at 3:04.75.

Nguyen Van Long made Thanh Hoa's record in the men's 800m surface category with a time of 6:14.70.

The event attracted 132 athletes from 18 teams will end tomorrow.

Port city to host national aerobics event

The 2013 National Aerobic Championship will take place in the port city of Hai Phong from tomorrow until next Monday.

The championship includes two categories, including 18 years and above and another division for athletes between the ages of 15-17.

Each province and city can send two male athletes, two female, two mixed doubles teams, a group of three and two groups of five.