VN vies for berths at world tourney

Beeline to victory: Southeast Asian Games gold medallist Truong Thanh Hang needs to maintain her current form in the women's 800m and 1,500m to grab a berth in the World Athletics Championship in South Korea in August. — VNA/VNS File Photo

HA NOI — Vietnamese track and fields athletes have a chance to take part in the 13th World Athletics Championship in South Korea, according to standards just released by the International Association of Athletics Federation.

A and B standards are to be applied to participants. Vietnamese seeking opportunities are: women's 100m and 200m Vu Thi Huong, 800m and 1,500m Truong Thanh Hang, men's decathlon Vu Van Huyen.

Huong has to run 100m in 11.38sec and the 200m in 23.30, and Hang must run 800m in 2:01.30 and 1500 in 4:08.90, both to meet the B standard.

Huong last December broke the national record in the National Sport Games' 200m event with similar result to the standard while her seasonal best in the 100m was 11.34 at the 25th SEA Games' 100m in Laos in 2009.

Da Nang-based Hang has the chance run in South Korea if she can maintain the times she ran at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou last November.

Hang earned two silver medals in her two events with times of 2:00.91 and 4:08.22, respectively. Both are better than the B standard.

The runners' tasks now are to maintain their results.

The Vietnamese are also likely to qualify for the London Olympics next year because the standards applied for that even are lower than that of the world competition in South Korea.

Hang and Huong will receive intensive support this year. Huong will take part in a long-term training course in Germany while Hang will train in China or Bhutan.

They will return home ahead of the Asian Athletics Championship in Kobe, Japan, on July 7-10. If they qualify they will compete in the world championship from August 27 to September 4 in Daegu City.

Meanwhile, "Iron" man Huyen has to achieve 8,000 points to reach the B standard.

Huyen surprised in Guangzhou where he won a bronze medal with 7,755 points. — VNS

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High hopes for world champ berths

HA NOI – Vietnamese track and fields athletes have a chance to take part in the 13th World Athletics Championship in South Korea, according to standards just released by the International Association of Athletics Federation.

A and B standards are to be applied to participants. Vietnamese seeking opportunities are: women's 100m and 200m Vu Thi Huong, 800m and 1,500m Truong Thanh Hang, men's decathlon Vu Van Huyen.

Huong has to run 100m in 11.38sec and the 200m in 23.30 and Hang must run 800m in 2:01.30 and 1500 in 4:08.90, both to meet the B standard.

Huong last December broke the national record in the National Sport Games' 200m event with similar result to the standard while her seasonal best in the 100m was 11.34 at the 25th SEA Games' 100m in Laos in 2009.

Da Nang-based Hang has the chance run in both South Korea and England if she can maintain the times she ran at the 16th Asian Games in Gaungzhou last November.

Hang earned two silver medals in her two events with times of 2:00.91 and 4:08.22, respectively. Both are better than the B standard.

The runners' tasks now are to maintain their results.

The Vietnamese are also likely to qualify for the London Olympics next December because the standards applied for that even are lower than that of the world competition in South Korea.

Hang and Huong will receive intensive support this year. Huong will take part in a long-term training course in Germany while Hang will train in China or Bhutan.

They will return home ahead of the Asian Athletics Championship in Kobe, Japan, on July 7-10. If they qualify they will compete in the world championship from August 27 to September 4 in Daegu City.

Meanwhile, Iron man Huyen has to achieve 8,000 points to reach the B standard.

Huyen surprised in Guangzhou where he won a bronze medal with 7,755 points. – VNS

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Huong Pagoda Festival opens

The annual Huong (Perfume) Pagoda Festival opened in Hanoi ’s
outskirts district of My Duc on February 8 or the sixth day of the first
lunar month.

The festival is the biggest and longest annual festival in
Vietnam that lasts through three spring months, welcoming more than 1
million pilgrims and tourists each year.

On the first day of the festival, an art programme was held and an art exhibition opened at the pagoda’s museum.

Highlights
of the festival will be a poetry night and a night of flower garlands
and coloured lanterns in the Yen stream. The poetry night will be held
on the 15 th day of the first lunar month.

The festival organising board and local authorities have invested in
expanding the wharf and put a total of 4,600 boats into service during
this year’s festival.

Sightseeing trips to
pagodas, temples and caves are the main attractions at the Huong pagoda
festival, as well as ceremonies to ask favours from Lord Buddha.

Built in the late 17th century, Huong Pagoda is located in My Duc
District at a historic site that has a large number of pagodas, temples
and caverns filled with marvelous kinds of stalactiles, about 60km from
downtown Hanoi. The Huong Tich cavern has the autograph of Lord Trinh
Sam in 1770, describing the cavern as the most beautiful cave in the
country./.

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Sprinters set their sights on London

Yet to peak: Sprinter Vu Thi Huong is looking for a berth at the London Olympic Games. The 24-year-old has to clock a time of 11.38sec in the 100m at the World Championships to qualify for London . — VNA/VNS Photo Quoc Khanh

HA NOI — Sprinter Vu Thi Huong will enrol at a six-month training course in Germany to prepare for the World Athletics Championship in Deagu, South Korea this August.

Meanwhile, middle-distance runner Truong Thanh Hang will train in Bhutan after Tet before she heads off for additional training in Kunming, China.

The two runners have set their sights on earning a berth at the London Olympics in 2012.

Huong, 24, who won a silver medal in 200m and a bronze in the 100m at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, last year, set a national record in the 200m during the National Sport Games in Da Nang last December after she crossed the finish line at 23.30 seconds.

The record is congruent with the Olympics automatic berth criteria for the women's 200m for the London Games.

The 24-year-old has to clock a time of 11.38sec in the 100m at the World Championship if she wants to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.

In 2007, Huong finished the 100m with a time of 11.33 seconds, a personal best, at the Asian Athletic Championships.

She was also the first Vietnamese female runner to win a gold medal at the SEA Games in the 100m race in the Philippines in 2005.

Three years ago, Huong competed at the Beijing Olympics but was disqualified during the quarter-final.

HCM City-born Truong Thanh Hang, who won two Asian Games silver medals in the 1,500 and 800, needs to sustain her best time of 2:00.91 in the 800 to earn a spot at the London Games. — VNS

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Vu Thi Huong makes history in ASIAD with bronze medal

Japan's Momoko Takahashi (R), Vietnam's Vu Thi Huong (C) and Uzbekistan's Guzel Khubbieva run their women's 100m final at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, Guangdong province on Monday - Photo: Reuters

HCMC – Vietnam’s sprinter Vu Thi Huong won the bronze medal in the women’s 100m category of the track and field event at the 16th Asian Games (ASIAD) in Guangzhou, China on Monday.

It was the country’s first medal in track and field competition since Vietnam began participating in Asia’s biggest sporting event in Seoul in 1986.

Asian champion Fukushima Chisato from Japan secured the gold with 11’’33 while Khubbieva Guzel from Uzbekistan took the silver as she finished with 11’’34.

Vu Thi Huong, who earned a gold medal in the women’s 60m category at Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam this year, and her teammate Le Ngoc Phuong reached the final round. However, Huong claimed the bronze as she was clocked in 11’’43. Phuong just crossed line at the bottom with 11’’76.

Earlier, Vu Thi Huong came first in group 1 of the semifinal round with 11’’46 at the 100 meter event while Le Ngoc Phuong just finished fifth in group 2 in the same category.

In boxing event, Vietnamese fighters exited from the competition when Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai was 3-9 knocked out by Shinmoto Aya from Japan in the quarterfinals of the women’s under 51kg category and Ngo Thi Chung was 1-10 beaten by Yun Kum Ju from North Korea in the quarterfinals of the women’s under 60kg category.

Vietnamese women’s sepaktakraw team had an 21-19, 23-21 victory over Myanmar in the women’s regu event on Monday. The Vietnamese side will meet hosts China on Tuesday before facing archrivals Thailand in the round-robin competition.

The Vietnamese team comprising Dao Trong Kien, Hoang Ngoc Nhat and Vu Van Dung suffered a 199-226 loss to Japanese team in the men’s archery event while Le Thi Bich, Nguyen Thi Nguyet and Nguyen Thi Tuoi lost 22-45 to Japanese fencers in the women’s team foil category of the fencing event.

In men’s individual road race, rider Bui Minh Thuy failed to clinch the medal when he completed the 180-kilometer stage in four hours, 14 minutes and 55.15 seconds, ranking at fifth place while his compatriot Mai Nguyen Hung did not complete his competition.

Wong Kam Po from Hong Kong bagged the gold with 4:14:54.18, Miyazawa Takashi from Japan gained the silver with 4:14:54.33 and Chinese rider Zou Rongxi took the bronze with 4:14:54.96.

Vietnam took one more bronze medal in the tenth competition day, dropping to 25th in the ranking table with 11 silvers and 12 bronzes.

China still leads with 154 golds, 77 silvers and 73 bronzes, followed by South Korea with 61 golds, 51 silvers and 66 bronzes and Japan with 32 golds, 59 silvers and 67 bronzes.

Medals Standings (at 10:00 p.m. Vietnamese time)

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	154	77	73	304
2 South Korea	61	51	66	178
3 Japan	32	59	67	158
4 Iran	12	8	15	35
5 Hong Kong	8	13	12	33
6 Chinese Taipei	8	9	29	46
7 Thailand	7	7	22	36
8 India	6	12	18	36
9 Malaysia	6	11	8	25
10 Kazakhstan	5	13	23	41
25 Vietnam	0	11	12	23

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Athletes capture twin golds at Malaysia Open

Vietnamese track and field athletes returned home from the Malaysia Open on the weekend with two gold and one silver medals.

Regional sprint queen Vu Thi Huong, who won the first semi-final, went
on to take the title of the women's 100m event in a time of 11.55sec.
Her teammate Le Ngoc Phuong, who won the second semi-final, pocketed the
silver in 11.79 sec.

They both later participated in the women's 4x100m relay, which Vietnam easily won in a time of 45.06sec.

Coach Nguyen Dinh Minh said he was pleased with the team's
achievements, even though they had performed better at other
tournaments.

"They performed well and achieved some
good results at the [ Malaysia ] Open. What I regretted most however
is that the competition attracted only Southeast Asian athletes, so we
were not able to test ourselves against the best in the region," Minh
said.

He added that he was not disappointed that Huong
did not get closer to her best time of 11.34, which she achieved when
winning the SEA Games title. He said there were still three weeks to go
to the 16th Asian Games (ASIAD), when he said he believed Huong would be
at her peak.

At the biggest sports event in the
region, Vietnamese athletes will compete in the women's 200m, 800m,
1,500m, 400m hurdle and 4x400m relay; while the men will take part in
the 800m, 1,500m, long jump, triple jump and decathlon.

The track and field events start on November 21, with the finals
taking place six days later at the Aoti Stadium in Guangzhou ./.

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Athletes capture twin golds at Malaysia Open

Home in a flash: Vu Thi Huong wins a gold medal in the women's 100m sprint at the Malaysia Open. She then added another gold in the team 4x100m relay. Huong is one of favourites among Vietnamese in the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, on November 12-27. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hung

HA NOI — Vietnamese track and field athletes returned home from the Malaysia Open on the weekend with two gold and one silver medals.

Regional sprint queen Vu Thi Huong, who won the first semi-final, went on to take the title of the women's 100m event in a time of 11.55sec. Her teammate Le Ngoc Phuong, who won the second semi-final, pocketed the silver in 11.79 sec.

They both later participated in the women's 4x100m relay, which Viet Nam easily won in a time of 45.06sec.

Coach Nguyen Dinh Minh said he was pleased with the team's achievements, even though they had performed better at other tournaments.

"They performed well and achieved some good results at the [Malaysia] Open. What I regretted most however is that the competition attracted only Southeast Asian athletes, so we were not able to test ourselves against the best in the region," Minh said.

He added that he was not disappointed that Huong did not get closer to her best time of 11.34, which she achieved when winning the SEA Games title. He said there were still three weeks to go to the 16th Asian Games (ASIAD), when he said he believed Huong would be at her peak.

At the biggest sports event in the region, Vietnamese athletes will compete in the women's 200m, 800m, 1,500m, 400m hurdle and 4x400m relay; while the men will take part in the 800m, 1,500m, long jump, triple jump and decathlon.

The track and field events start on November 21, with the finals taking place six days later at the Aoti Stadium in Guangzhou. — VNS

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