VN tennis players take bronze at Thai champs

Viet Nam won bronze medals at the Toyota AEC Tennis Championships in Thailand yesterday.

In the men's singles, national runner-up No 5 Do Minh Quan lost 3-6, 2-6 to No 2 seed Sornbutnark Warit from Thailand.

In the women's singles, Huynh Phuong Dai Trang was blown away by No 1 seed Lertpitaksinchai Nicha, also of Thailand. She was defeated 3-6, 2-6.

In the men's doubles, Le Quoc Khanh and Lam Quang Tri were quickly downed 2-6, 2-6 by Isarow Pruchya/Kadchapana Nutthanon from the host nation.

Earlier in the team event, Thailand overcame Viet Nam 2-0 after two single matches.

The tournament will close tomorrow.

U23s beat Tay Ninh in friendly match

Viet Nam's Under-23s team on Sunday defeated First Division's Tay Ninh 3-1 in a friendly match in Tay Ninh Province.

Manh Hung opened the score with a left-wing 30-metre free kick in the first half, while Hoang Danh Ngoc pocketed a double at the 80th and 83rd minutes.

The host grabbed their only goal in the last second through Dembele Kalifa, who was successful with a penalty shootout.

The friendly match was one of the activities planned by the U23s for their SEA Games campaign. In the next match, they will play An Giang in Binh Duong Province on November 27.

Women's team get first draw in training course

Viet Nam's national women's football team drew 3-3 with Nanjing's Under-14 team in the first match of their training course in China on Sunday.

The host logged their first goal near the end of the first half, before Tuyet Dung levelled some minutes later.

The young boys continued to lead the result with two consecutive goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half. This pressured the Vietnamese into speeding up to lodge

more attacks. They grabbed two more goals through Thanh Huong and Huynh Nhu to mark a draw.

The team will play two more matches ahead of their return to Viet Nam on December 2

Ambridge claims Asia Pacific contest

John Ambridge from England has been named 2013 champion of the Asia Pacific Senior Amateur Golf Championship at the Mont-gomerie Links golf course.

His one-under-par total of 215 earned him the title by four strokes from Peter King of Australia.

In an exciting final day on Saturday, Denis Dale from Australia and Ambridge finished on one over par (145).

Douglas Williams from Hong Kong was one stroke (146) behind with overnight leader Frank Borren of New Zealand and Lian Al Hian from Singapore on three-over (147).

In the team championship, New Zealand (897) defended their title by three strokes from the Australian team.

The annual championship drew 98 players from 15 countries and territories.

Willie Ong Hoo Eng from Singapore was the overall winner with a score 209, while Australia's Peter McGregor was runner up at 211.

It's the first time the regional championships have been held at Montgomerie Links, Viet Nam's best championship course.

Phuc wins Nam Ky Khoi Nghia cycling tournament

Ho Van Phuc won the Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Cycling Tournament on Saturday.

Phuc, of ADC-Vinh Long Television, claimed the yellow jersey of the seven-stage tour with a total time of 22hr 10.55min.

He was followed by Nguyen Truong Tai of Domesco Pharmacy-Dong Thap and Tran Le Minh Tuan of Military Zone 7. Tuan also won the white jersey for the best junior athlete.

"It is great feeling to wear the yellow jersey as the winner. I have to say thanks to my teammates who supported me throughout the tour. It will be great motivation for me in future competitions," Phuc said.

The last 132km stage from Xuan Loc Town of Dong Nai Province to HCM City's Hoc Mon District went to Pham Phat Dat of Eximbank-HCM City, followed by Nguyen Tan Khang (Vinh Thinh Cable-Hoc Mon) and Tran Van Khang (Vinh Binh Rice-An Giang).

Le Minh Nguyet of Eximbank-HCM City took the green jersey with 49 points. Vinh Long Television also took the team title ahead of Military Zone 7 and Dong Thap.

"After increasing the number of stages from three to seven this year, I believe that we will work together to set up plans to expand the annual event for more success in the future," said Tran Van Thuan, director of Radio the Voice of HCM City People.

Giang elected as chairman of martial arts federation

Vice President of the Olympic Council of Asia Hoang Vinh Giang was voted chairman of the Viet Nam Traditional Martial Arts Federation at a general meeting on Saturday in Ha Noi.

The Deputy Chairman of the Viet Nam Olympic Committee will take charge of the federation from 2013-17.

The new chairman said in the first quarter of 2014, he would promote plans to promote Vietnamese vovinam throughout the world, and lobby for its inclusion at the 28th

Southeast Asian Games in 2015 in Singapore and the later Games in Brunei and Viet Nam.

Cuong moves up

After winning second place at the Korea Junior Open Badminton Championships, Pham Cao Cuong of Viet Nam moved up from 21st to 17th ranking, with 14.788 points in world junior rankings.

Cuong had an impressive performance and was only beaten by fifth-seeded Korea player Choi Sol-kyu in the final match on Sunday.

The next challenge for Cuong is the Li-Ning Singapore Youth International Series 2013, which will take place from November 25 to December 1.

Along with Cuong, as many as 13 Vietnamese players will compete in four categories, including Do Tuan Duc (U-19), Vo Bao Thien (U-17), Nguyen Hai Dang (U-15) and Nguyen Phuc Dan Khue (U-13).

Gold worth plenty of money for bodybuilder Thong

The Can Tho city Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has honoured with a bonus bodybuilder Nguyen Anh Thong who just snatched a gold medal at the 5th World Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championships in Hungary.

The Vietnamese strongman, who also triumphed at the Asian championships two months ago, once again proved his prowess at the competition that lured strong rivals, and took the men's 60kg division title.

The Mekong Delta's Can Tho city-born athlete Thong has received 30 million VND (1,400 USD) in cash from the department and another 70 million VND from sponsors.

The world title would be a great boost for Thong, who will compete at the 27th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 27) in Myanmar next month, according to coach Huynh Anh Thong.

“I am very happy to be honoured at the ceremony. It is rooted in tireless practice as well as enthusiastic instruction from my coach. Do not sleep on top of the record. I hope to bring a victory for the nation at the forthcoming SEA Games 27,” said Nguyen Anh Thong.

He dedicated 7 million VND from this bonus to the city’s “For the poor” fund. Now, he joins his teammates in Hanoi heading for the regional sports festival in Myanmar.

Hosts Vietnam beat the 2012 futsal World Cup champions Brazil 3-2 in the final match of a four-team international futsal tournament in Ho Chi Minh City on November 22.

The victory means that Vietnam finish the event in third place, with one win and two losses. Earlier, Vietnam lost 3-1 to Thailand and 2-1 to Japan, the currents Asian champions.

Brazil won the championship title and a cash prize of 5,000 USD thanks to their higher goal difference than Japan, who scored the same points. Thailand stands fourth in the tournament table.

In their final game Vietnam were well organised and created several counterattacks, despite having less of the ball possession than Brazil.

Pocketing a cash prize of 2,000 USD, Vietnamese players were also awarded an additional prize of 400 million VND (19,230 USD) from the Vietnam Football Federation and Eximbank.-