Top badminton player Minh to take part in All England tourney

Viet Nam's top badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh will take part in the US$350,000 Yonex All England Championships in Birmingham from March 8-13.

The tournament, which is part of the Super Series Premier circuit, is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious badminton events. It attracts top players from around the world including Lee Chong Wei, Taufik Hidayat and Lin Dan.

After the event, Minh will move to Basel in Switzerland to compete in the $125,000 Swiss Open and then to the Asian Championships in April in Sichuan, China.

The Olympian is currently ranked seventh in the world.

Hoang Thien progresses at world junior tennis event

Nguyen Hoang Thien entered the semi-finals of the 2011 Tennis Central 18&U ITF Summer Championships after beating Australian 14th seed Jacob Sullivan yesterday in in New Zealand.

In Wellington City, the fifth seed Thien, 16, dropped in the first set before recovering to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-0. He faces another Australian, the third-seeded Jack Schipanski, in the semi-final match today.

Earlier, Thien defeated New Zealand's Pratt Keerasuntonpong 6-3, 6-3 in the first round and Brafley Mousley of Australia 6-3, 6-1 in the next round before eliminating local Cameron Norrie 6-1, 7-6 in the third.

The six-day tournament is scheduled to finish on Saturfay in Wellington.

Thien was ranked 241 in the world according to the latest world ranking table released on Monday by the International Tennis Federation. He attended training courses in the US in 2005, just two years after he took up the sport at the age of eight.

National cycling team to race at Asian Championships

Viet Nam will send a team of 12 cyclists to participate in the Asian Cycling Championships in Thailand from February 17-20.

The team includes eight veteran and four young cyclists. The competition will provide the athletes with a chance to hone their skills in preparation for the 26th Southeast Asian Games.

They are trained by coach Tran Van Quyt at the HCM City-based National Sports Training Centre

Last year, youngster Nguyen Thi That won a silver medal at the Asian event. — VNS

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Sprinter Huong tops list of outstanding athletes

Sprinter Vu Thi Huong topped this year's
poll on Vietnam's most outstanding athletes and coaches.

Huong, 25, who won a bronze medal in the women's 100m and a silver in
the 200m in the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, notched up 1,213
points in the poll. She edged out teammates Truong Thanh Hang, who came
in with 1,208 points to make the top ten list; Karateist Le Bich Phuong,
who won Vietnam's only gold medal to salvage Vietnamese pride in the
martial arts competitions at the Asian Games, ranked third with 1,047
points; and badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh placed fourth.

Swimmer Vo Thanh Tung topped the list of disabled athletes with 550
points. He won a gold medal in the men's 50m freestyle at the Asian
ParaGames for disabled athletes in Guangzhou, China last December.

Runner-up was badminton player Pham Duc Trung, who also
grabbed a gold in the Asian ParaGames, gaining 480 points from the
selection. Another badminton player, Hoang Pham Thang, placed third,
winning 376 points.

In the coaches category, coach Ho Thi
Tu Tam won 463 points to take the top spot. The army's karate coach, Le
Cong, took second ahead of track and field coach Nguyen Dinh Minh.
Badminton coach Le Thuy Nga was voted the top coach for disabled
athletes.

The awards are jointly organised by the Ministry
of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union,
the Vietnam Fund for Young Talent Support and The Thao Vietnam (Vietnam
Sports) newspaper.

A gala to honour athletes and coaches will be held in Hanoi next month./.

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Sprinter Huong tops list of outstanding athletes

Sprinter Vu Thi Huong topped this year's poll on Viet Nam's most outstanding athletes and coaches.

Huong, 25, who won a bronze medal in the women's 100m and a silver in the 200m in the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, notched up 1,213 points in the poll. She edged out teammates Truong Thanh Hang, who came in with 1,208 points to make the top ten list; Karateist Le Bich Phuong, who won Viet Nam's only gold medal to salvage Vietnamese pride in the martial arts competitions at the Asian Games, ranked third with 1,047 points; and badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh placed fourth.

Swimmer Vo Thanh Tung topped the list of disabled athletes with 550 points. He won a gold medal in the men's 50m freestyle at the Asian ParaGames for disabled athletes in Guangzhou, China last December.

Runner-up was badminton player Pham Duc Trung, who also grabbed a gold in the Asian ParaGames, gaining 480 points from the selection. Another badminton player, Hoang Pham Thang, placed third, winning 376 points.

In the coaches category, coach Ho Thi Tu Tam won 463 points to take the top spot. The army's karate coach, Le Cong, took second ahead of track and field coach Nguyen Dinh Minh. Badminton coach Le Thuy Nga was voted the top coach for disabled athletes.

The awards are jointly organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the Viet Nam Fund for Young Talent Support and The Thao Viet Nam (Viet Nam Sports) newspaper.

A gala to honour athletes and coaches will be held in Ha Noi next month.

Football legend Pele to visit Viet Nam in March

Pele, who is widely considered to be the greatest footballer of all time, is expected to visit Viet Nam in March.

Organisers of the 3rd Buon Me Thuot Coffee Festival to be held on March 10-13 in the Central Highlands province of Dac Lac said the 71-year-old will attend the event as a goodwill ambassador for his native Brazil, which is the world's largest coffee exporter.

In 1999 Pele, born Edison Arantes do Nascimento, was named the Football Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics.

In the same year, when French weekly France-Football asked all former "Ballon D'Or" winners to choose their footballer of the century, he again came out on top. — VNS

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Badminton player wins second Asian gold

HA NOI — Badminton player Pham Hoang Thang beat China's Tian Shiwei 21-19, 21-9 in the men's singles final to win gold at the Asian Para Games in Guangzhou, China yesterday.

Earlier, Thang defeated Thailand's Meepian Subpong 2-1 in semi-final and Indian Dillashwar Rao 2-0 in quarter-final.

Wheelchair racer Nguyen Thanh Thao finished second in the women's 100m with a time in 20.16 seconds, two hundredth of a second faster than Chinese Zhou Hong Zhuan, who came third.

China's Hung Lisha won gold in 17.83sec.

Trinh Cong Luan, 38, took a silver in the men's shot-put with a 10.05m attempt in the cerebral palsy category yesterday.

Gold medal went to Iran's Bagheri Jeddi Jalil, who achieved a 10.89m put, while his team-mate Zqout Khamis came third.

Wheelchair badminton player Truong Ngoc Binh bagged a bronze medal after a 2-0 (21-12, 21-14) loss to Chan Ho Yuen from Hong Kong.

The 20-year-old Cao Ngoc Hung also ranked third for the bronze medal in the men's discuss yesterday.

On Tuesday, swimmer Vo Thanh Tung won a gold in the men's 50m freestyle. Viet Nam rank 11th in medal tally with two golds, two silvers and four bronzes after the third day of competition. — VNS

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