Yet again, Vietnamese chess masters were successful in maintaining their 16-year domination of the Southeast Asian region, sweeping away 68 gold, 44 silver and 29 bronze medals at the 16th ASEAN+ Age-Group Chess Championships.

The annual tournament took place in Singapore from June 8–17 and drew participation of more than 457 players from 17 countries.

Participants competed for standard, rapid and blitz chess medals in the Open and Girls’ U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14, U-16, U-18 and U-20 age groups, and the optional 50+ and 65+ age groups.

Meanwhile, in the individual events, the Vietnamese team bagged 18 gold, 19 silver, and 16 bronze medals.

The Philippines took second place and Singapore stood in third place.

Football for All in Vietnam programme introduced to schools

The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and the Ministry of Education and Training signed a cooperation agreement on June 18 to expand the Football for All in Vietnam (FFAV) programme across the country.

Under the agreement, the programme will be implemented at primary and secondary schools across the country from 2015-2020.

VFF General Secretary Le Hoai Anh said developing grassroots football is a main goal in the football development strategy through 2020 as approved by the Prime Minister. Given its 12 years of existence, the programme is considered effective and relevant.

The programme’s success has been recognised by the Asian Football Confederation, the United Nations’ Office on Sport for Peace and Development and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The VFF hoped the programme would produce future football stars for Vietnam.

Since 2003, the FFAV programme has been implemented in nine districts, cities and towns in Thua Thien-Hue and Do Son district in Hai Phong city, gathering 17,500 children in 171 football clubs in total.