VietNamNet Bridge – The Viet Nam women's team have been drawn in Group B with the hosts Indonesia and the Philippines in the women's doubles sepak takraw (rattan ball kicking) event at the Southeast Asian Games.

High kicker: Vietnamese player Lai Thi Huyen Trang scores a kick in a match against Thailand. Viet Nam set their hopes on the women's doubles event at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia. (Photo: VNS)

Viet Nam will debut a young squad at the Games.

"It will be the first time I've played in the SEA Games. I'm a bit nervous but I will do my best to help the team qualify for the semi-finals," said team member Lai Thi Huyen Trang.

Trang will team up with Dinh Thi Thuy Hanh and Nguyen Thi Dung in the doubles and regu (three person) event.

She said the doubles event was easier than the regu.

At the World Cup in Malaysia in September, the team bagged a silver medal after losing to Thailand in the final.

"This SEA Games is expected to be tough for the new-look women's squad. The youngsters have little experience of big events, even though they took home a silver medal from the World Cup," said head of the Sepak Takraw Department of the National Sport Administration, Nguyen Xuan Hanh.

The team's coach Hoang Huu Nghia said: "The team will try their best in the two group matches to qualify for the semi-finals. I hope the young players will raise their game and succeed in their debut at the SEA Games."

The sepak takraw event is scheduled to start this Saturday and finish on Wednesday.

At their SEA Games debut in Indonesia in 1997, Viet Nam nabbed a bronze medal before bagging two golds in the SEA Games in Viet Nam in 2003.

At the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Viet Nam bagged two gold medals after beating the sport's inventor, Thailand, in the women's finals.

In 2007, Viet Nam bagged two silver and one bronze medal at the King's Cup World Sepak Takraw Championships in Bangkok.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News