VietNamNet Bridge – U21 Viet Nam defeated U21 Thailand 4-2 in their first Group A match at the Thanh Nien Newspaper's U21 International Football Tournament in HCM City yesterday, Nov 22.

Opening win: U21 Viet Nam celebrate beating Thailand at the Thanh Nien U21 International Football Tournament in HCM City yesterday. — Photo thethaovietnam.vn

Viet Nam opened the scoring in the sixth and 13th minutes of the match thanks to Pham Van Thanh and Ho Tuan Tai.

However, before the first half closed, Thailand levelled the score at 2-2.

After the break, Lam Ti Phong and Pham Xuan Manh opened the gap for Viet Nam to 4-2 in the 49th and 56th minute.

With this win, U21 Viet Nam temporarily took the lead in Group A with three points, followed by U21 Singapore and U21 Thailand.

In other Group B match yesterday, U19 South Korea crushed U21 Myanmar 2-0 to top the group and secured a ticket to compete in the semi-finals.

Coach Eric Williams of Myanmar called together the players from the U19 team that defeated U19 Viet Nam in the final of Hassanal Bolkiah last year, as well as other players who competed in the 2015 World Cup U20.

Myanmar's experience was better than the youngsters from South Korea, so they created many opportunities to score in the first half.

In the 40th minute, Than Paing coolly launched his header towards South Korea's goalkeeper at a distance of 5m, but the South Korean goalie saved the goal.

However, South Korean players did not miss chances in the final minutes of the first half, as Kang Ji-hun overcame Myanmar's goalie to open their score in the 45th minute.

Myanmar played attack continuously to level the score in the second half, but they had to surrender to the South Korean's defence line.

South Korea proved very dangerous in counter-attack situations. Kim Jeong-hwan doubled the score to 2-0 for his team in the 70th minute.

In the remaining time, South Korea played in defence to hold onto their lead.

"We played well in the first half and played attack-defence against our highly-appreciated rival. After our loss, the match changed, South Korea defended rather well so our players couldn't level the score," said coach Williams.

Also losing to South Korea, Myanmar and Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) will meet in the final group match tomorrow to earn a ticket to the semi-finals. The winner will company with South Korea in the event's next stage.

"HAGL has many advantages, but we will play wholeheartedly and are determined to win the match," Williams added.

Viet claims sixth stage of cycling tour

Dinh Quoc Viet of HCM City's Eximbank 1 won the sixth race during the Nam Ky Khoi Nghia cycling tournament yesterday, Nov 22.

Dinh Quoc Viet

Viet took the lead with a time of 2:11.47 in the 100km stage from Da Lat City to Bao Loc City.

Truong Nguyen Thanh Nhan of HCM City's Eximbank 2 and Nguyen Van Xuyen of Vinh Binh An Giang Rice were the runners-up.

Meanwhile, Ho Van Phuc of ADC-Vinh Long Television held onto the yellow jersey for the best overall time with a total time of 19:03.36 after six stages. Phuc also won the red jersey award for the King of Mountain with 17 points.

Nhan's teammate Le Nguyet Minh won the green jersey for scoring the most points, with 49.

ADC-Vinh Long Television topped the team's rankings with a combined time of 57:13.35, followed by Military Zone 7 and Domesco Pharmacy Dong Thap 1.

Today, cyclists will compete in the final 128km seventh stage from Xuan Loc Town of Dong Nai Province to Hoc Mon District of HCM City.

Dat wins Ha Noi Moi Open tennis event

The fourth Ha Noi Moi Newspaper Table Tennis Open closed yesterday (Nov 22) after four days of competitions in the capital city.

Le Tien Dat

In the most important event of the men's professional singles, national silver medallist Le Tien Dat of Ba Dinh beat Nguyen Anh Tu of Ha Noi 11-2, 14-12, 11-5, 13-11 to take the gold medal.

Earlier, the organisers awarded 11 sets of medals to athletes who take part in amateur disciplines for both men and women.

Nearly 300 competitors from 50 delegations took part in the annual tournament from November 19-22 at the Trinh Hoai Duc Gymnasium.

VNS