China dominates Badminton Vietnam Open

Chinese badminton players took three of the five championships at the Yonex Sunrise Vietnam Grand Prix 2010 which ended in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday.

Chinese player Chen Yuekun, ranked 294^th in the world, grabbed the men’s singles title after beating Nan Wel of Hong Kong 21-13, 21-14 in the finals to take a US$3,750 cash prize.

It was Chen who dethroned the tournament’s top-ranked player, Vietnamese star Nguyen Tien Minh in the quarterfinals –who, at the time, was ranked 9^th in the world.

The women’s singles final match turned into an all-Chinese contest. Jin Ma-Qianxin Zheng beat compatriots Jinhua Tang-Huan Xia 21-19, 21-23, 21-13.

The Chinese pair Hanbin He-Jin Ma earned their mixed doubles victory after beating Hong Kong rivals Youhan-Samatha in straight sets in the finals.

The men’s doubles title went to the Indonesian duo Ahsan-Septano who beat Malaysian competitors Tazari and Soon Hock Ong.

Inthanon from Thailand claimed the women’s singles gold medal after beating Chinese contestant Hui Zhon 21-17, 22-20 in the final match.

The event indicated that Vietnamese badminton players, especially women players, are still very far from qualifying as international competitors.

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Chinese girls win Asian junior volleyball champs

HCMC – The Chinese team won the 15th Asian Junior Women’s Volleyball Championship, also called Salonpas Cup 2010, which concluded on Monday at HCMC’s Phan Dinh Phung Gymnasium.

China won the international youth volleyball tournament title after defeating archrivals South Korea 3-0 in the final game.

South Korea played well in the beginning of the first set but eight-time champions China recouped strongly to win the set 25-18. A stronger Chinese team dominated the next set with the score at 25-21 then again dominated in the third 25-17.

Former champion Japan overcame Thailand 25-22, 25-19, 26-24 to take number three place and Chinese Taipei beat Kazakhstan 3-0 to come fifth.

Third-placed Japan together with champion China and runners-up South Korea also secured three tickets for the World Youth Volleyball Championships 2011 in Turkey.

Meanwhile, hosts Vietnam finished eighth after losing to Indonesia 16-25, 19-25, 13-25. Vietnam needs to invest more in women’s volleyball if it wants to maintain its number two rank in Southeast Asia after their poor performance in the tournament.

The best player of the tournament was awarded to Liu Yanhan from China. The top scorer went to Park Jeong-ah from South Korea while Mari Horikawa of Japan won the best serve and spiker. Yang Zhou of China was voted the best blocker and his teammate Wu Bei the best setter while Sumiko Mori of Japan won best libero and Japanese girl Futami Azusa was voted the most beautiful player.

Fifteen countries and territories across Asia participated in the Championship including Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and host Vietnam.

The teams were divided into four pools and competed at Tan Binh and Phan Dinh Phung Gymnasiums from September 12 to 20. Groups played in the round-robin format with two top teams advancing to the next round.

The teams from Vietnam, Kazakhstan and New Zealand were in Pool A while Pool B comprised of top-notched Asian women teams - Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka. Thailand, Fiji, Chinese Taipei and India competed in Pool C and Pool D had Iran, China, Australia and Korea.

This was the second time Vietnam has organized the event. The first time took place in Phan Dinh Phung Gymnasium eight years ago. Both were sponsored by Hisamitsu Vietnam.

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Chess players hunt for medals

Vietnam is expecting to win a silver medal in the women's Chinese
chess (xiangqi) at the 16th Asian Games (ASIAD) in Guangzhou, China, in November, said coach Hoang Dinh Hong.

Hong also hopes the men will take home at least a bronze medal.

Eleven chess masters have been undergoing intensive training in HCM
City for the tournament, which includes Chinese chess for the first
time – since early May. They have been competing with teams from Dong
Thap and Khanh Hoa provinces.

Their final test will be at the National Sports Meet in Da Nang city next month.

National senior master Ngo Lan Huong, who is the Asian Indoor Games
defending champion, is favourite to take the Asian Games' women's berth.

Masters Nguyen Thanh Bao, Lai Ly Huynh, Trenh A Sang and Nguyen Hoang Lam will be vying for the two slots in the men's team.

"This year ASIAD only features women's and men's individual events.
Unfortunately, that puts Vietnam at a disadvantage because we have
the strongest team in the world," Hong said.

At this year's ASIAD, Viet Nam 's main rival will be China .

"Our difficulty is not the quality of our players but their lack of
competition experience. Chinese players regularly attend at least 10
events a year, while our players attend just a handful," the team coach
said.

Lan Huong's chief rivals will be Wang Lin Na, the China national champion, and Yang Dan.

Hong said that despite their youth, the two Chinese masters are more
talented than former world champion Yu Yungquin, also from China ,
whom Lan Huong has met several times.

Kao Yiping, from Chinese Taipei, is also a major threat. She took the silver medal at the Asian championship.

On the men's side, chief rivals will be China 's national champion Hsu
Yinchuan and Hsiang Chuan, who has the highest elo rating; Wu Kueilin
of Chinese Taipei, who came fifth at the world championship; and
Singapore 's Wo Zonghan, the world No 6./.

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China take Asian junior women’s volleyball tourney

China’s team beat rivals from the Republic of Korea in straight
sets in the final of the 15th Asian Junior Women's Volleyball
Championship at HCM City 's Phan Dinh Phung Gymnasium on Sept. 20.

The Chinese girls with their height advantage
got the better of the Koreans to win their ninth title out of ten
tournaments since 1992; the only remaining title was won by Japan
two years ago in Chinese Taipei.

The Republic of Korea has not won the title since they hosted the tournament in 1980.

The player of the tournament was awarded to Liu Yanhan. The top
scorer went to Park Jeong-ah while Mari Horikawa won the best server and
spiker. Yang Zhou was voted the best blocker, Wu Bei the best setter
while Sumiko Mori won best libero.

Japan overcame Thailand to take the third place and Chinese Taipei beat Kazakhstan to take fifth place.

Vietnam finished eighth after losing to Indonesia in straight
sets. The disappointing result is a warning to Vietnam that it needs
to invest more in women's volleyball if it wants to maintain its number
two rank in Southeast Asia in the future.

The
biennial tournament made its debut in 1980 and China have won most
titles (9), followed by Japan (5) and the RoK (1)./.

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