Women prepare for Olympic qualifiers

HCM CITY — Viet Nam's women's football team will start its FIFA Women's Olympic Football Tournament 2012 qualifying campaign next month.

The Asian qualifiers that start in March have three phrases until September to determine the two teams that will represent Asia.

Viet Nam is in group A of the draw, which comprises Thailand, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and Myanmar.

Group A and seven other teams – India, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Iran, Palestine and Jordan – from groups B and C will take part in the inaugural phase of qualification that kicks off on March 8 and winds up on March 27.

Group A will play their matches in Chinese Taipei (Kaohsiung City) while Bangladesh (Dhaka) will host the Group B games. Jordan (Zerqa City) will play host to Group C.

The top two teams from Groups A and C and the winners of Group B (five teams) will advance to the second round of qualifiers, which is a one-round league format and takes place from June 3-12.

The winners of this qualification round will join Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Australia for the final qualification round that will take place from September 1-11. The six teams will play a one-round league format. The top two teams in the final round of qualifiers will represent Asia at the 2012 London Olympics.

Hosts for the second qualification round will come from among the participating teams while the final qualification round hosts will be decided between Australia North Korea, South Korea, Japan, and one potential participating member association. — VNS

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VN beats Chinese Taipei to host competition in 2016

HA NOI — Viet Nam was selected to host the fifth Asian Beach Games in 2016 at the Olympic Council of Asia's (OCA) meeting which concluded on Saturday in Guangzhou, China.

Viet Nam moved past Chinese Taipei at the last minute to win the right to host the Games which are scheduled to be organised in the central province of Khanh Hoa's Nha Trang City.

Vietnamese Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh and Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, president of the OCA, signed the memorandum of understanding for Viet Nam's hosting of the event.

At the first Games in Bali two years ago, Viet Nam pocketed two gold, five silver and 13 bronze medals for an eighth place finish among 42 delegations.

Viet Nam will compete in 10 sports at the second Games which will be held in Oman's Muscat City early next month.

Viet Nam, which successfully organised the third Asian Indoor Games (AIG) last year, is widely expected to win the right to host the 29th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in 2017 in HCM City and the 18th Asian Games in 2019, said Viet Nam Olympic Committee Chairman Hoang Vinh Giang.

"President Al-Sabah talked with Minister Tuan Anh after the OCA meeting and said he would be back to Viet Nam to host the 18th ASIAD.

"With his support and our careful preparation, I strongly believe that we will win the right because Viet Nam now has the ability to host big Asian sporting events after our recent success with the AIG and the 22nd SEA Games in 2003," Giang said.

The other countries submitting bids to host the 18th ASIAD are Thailand, Chinese Taipei and India. — VNS

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Vietnam down Iran, go top

Vietnam downed Iran 2-0 to go two points clear in the AFC U-19 Women’s Championship second round qualifiers standings while Thailand and Uzbekistan played a 2-2 draw on Monday.

Vietnam, who defeated Uzbekistan 3-0 in their opener, went ahead in the eighth minute through Nguyen Thi Lieu and Nguyen Thi Tuyet Dung doubled the advantage six minutes after the half hour mark. Maryam Rahimi pulled one back for Iran a minute before the final whistle.

Vietnam are now on six points after two games, two more than Thailand and Uzbekistan. Chinese Taipei are on three points while Iran are yet to open their account.

Taneekarn Dangda’s 28th-minute opener for Thailand was cancelled out by Feruza Turdiboeva at the stroke of half time. Pajaree Thaoto once again put Thailand ahead three minutes after the hour mark but Selime Gugueva made it 2-2 three minutes later.

Thailand will face Iran while Vietnam will meet Chinese Taipei on Thursday.

The second round features teams ranked 6-8 from the previous competition, along with the first-round group winners, for a total of five countries.

After a single round-robin, the top team will qualify for the tournament proper.

Top five teams from the last edition - Japan, Korea Republic, DPR Korea, China and Australia – have been given a direct entry into the Finals.

The six-team Finals will have a one-round league format to determine the champions.

Source: Asian Football

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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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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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