Vietnam tennis star makes top 100 on junior world ranking

Vietnam tennis prodigy Ly Hoang Nam rose 47 spots to 95th place with 331 points on the latest junior world ranking, published by the International Tennis Federation on October 28.

Nam’s amazing climb is attributable to his historic championship title at the recent Chang-LTAT-ITF Juniors G2 tournament in Bangkok, Thailand. The victory, the first ITF title in Nam’s tennis career, added 100 points to his ITF junior rating score.

Nam has registered to compete in seven international youth competitions in upcoming months, hoping to accumulate enough points to become one of the world’s top 50 juniors. A higher ranking is a must for him to earn a wild card berth to the main round of the 2014 Australia Open Junior Championships. With his current 95th place ranking, Nam is just eligible for the tournament’s qualifying round, in which he would have to compete for a place in the main tournament.

Hoang Nam has opted not to compete in the 2013 Southeast Asian Tennis Championships later this year in order to focus his energy and physical strength on his main objective, the 2014 Australian Open Juniors.

Hanoi team claim top spot at national shooting tournament

Winning 23 gold, 11 silver and 8 bronze medals, Hanoi earned best team honours at the 49th National Shooting Championships, which wrapped up in Hanoi on October 30.

The Army team came in second with 16 gold, 16 silver and 7 bronze medals, followed by Hai Duong with 4 gold, 8 silvers and 7 bronzes.

Four new national records were set during this year’s seven-day competition, including Nguyen Duy Hoang’s 1,257 points in the men’s 50m rifle event and the 202.5 points scored in the men’s 10m pistol event by Hoang Xuan Vinh. Both shoot for the Army team.

Le Thi Hoang Ngoc from the Army team also set a new record of 586 points in the women’s slow fire pistol category. Three Army team shooters – Ho Thanh Hai, Nguyen Hoang Phuong and Hoang Xuan Vinh – set a new team 50m slow fire pistol record.

The 2013 National Shooting Championships offered a good opportunity for athletes to sharpen their skills and for officials to select promising young talent for the national shooting teams at upcoming regional and international competitions.

Soldiers claim final shooting golds

Military shooters fired off the last two gold medals on the final day of the National Shooting Championships in Ha Noi yesterday.

Olympian Hoang Xuan Vinh won the men's centre fire pistol event with 584 points, while his teammate Dau Van Dong came third with 578 points. The silver went to Le Doan Cuong of the Public Security team.

With two athletes finishing in the top three of the individual event, the Military team were strong favourites for the team category and racked up a score of 1,735 to come out on top. Ha Noi came second with 1,704, but they failed to make any impact on the final team rankings, which have been dominated by Ha Noi since the opening day.

The championships wrapped up after seven days of intense competition which saw four new national records claimed by the soldiers.

VN win paralympic swimming medals

Viet Nam claimed a haul of one gold, one silver and one bronze after a strong showing from the swimmers at the Asian Youth Paralympic Games which ended in Malaysia yesterday.

Truong Quang Gon swam strongly to win the men's 100m backstroke S10 event with a time of 1min 22.83sec.

Duong Van Ngoc came second in the men's 100m breaststroke SB11 pool, while Vu Xuan Nhat came third in the men's 100m backstroke S12 category.

The Games is a multi-sport event for athletes with a disability aged 15-19.

Viet Nam finished sixth in the medal tally, with 16 golds, four silvers and three bronze medals.

Japan topped the charts, followed by Iran and China.

Themed "Passion Grows, Dreams Fulfilled, Friendships Strengthened", these athletes competed across 14 different sports in Kuala Lumpur, from October 26-30.

Thousands of athletes represented the nearly 30 countries that make up the Asian Paralympic Committee. The Games covered multi-disability categories including physical disabilities (wheelchair and amputees), visual impairment, intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy and les autres (other disabilities).

Sepak Takraw series returns

The third round of the International Sepak Takraw Federation (ISTAF) Super Series 2013 will kick off today in Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia.

In the women's category, Viet Nam will participate alongside five competitors separated into two three-team groups.

Group A will feature Viet Nam, South Korea and hosts Malaysia, while Japan, Indonesia and defending champion Thailand will compete in group B.

Thailand is currently the top seed with 2000 points, followed by Viet Nam on 1920 points.

The tournament will end on November 3.