VietNam Culture: Minh City

Showing posts with label Minh City. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Aeroflot champ Liem wants to be No 1

Le Quang Liem (C) is gifted with teddy bears and flowers by fans on his return to Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City on February 21, 2010

Grandmaster Le Quang Liem of Vietnam, who defended his championship title at the 2011 Aeroflot Open last week in Russia, returned home to a warm welcome at Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City Monday.

The 20-year-old player had an interview with local media.

What are your targets this year?

They are to take part in some elite chess tournaments including the Dortmund Sparkassen event in Germany in July, World Cup in Russia in August, and the 26th SEA Games in Indonesia in November.

In addition, I will also join some other international tournaments wearing the jerseys of Germany’s Bremen chess club in March, France’s Every Grand Roque in April and China’s Qingdao Yucai in June.

I target to lift up my Elo ratings to 2,700 this year. [Now, his is 2,689.]

And other long-term targets?

It is to take my Elo ratings to the world’s top 30 and 20 and the number one in the world.

I have another task of completing my university program. I am now a freshman of finance and banking at the Saigon University.

Is it a trouble to follow at the same time two targets?

I take all my free time from chess competition for my banking studies. It’s difficult but I will improve.

What kind of support do you need from local and central sports departments to improve your world rankings?

I’ve met difficulties in legal documents to travel abroad for competition. I wish to have an official passport [granted to government officials on overseas missions], instead of ordinary passport to facilitate my travel.

For example, while competing at the Tata Steel chess tournament held last month in the Netherlands, coach Lam Minh Chau and I had to travel far away to another city for our visas to enter Russia as the Russian Embassy in Vietnam was on holiday for the Lunar New Year festival.

It would not cost that much time with an official passport.

How is your chess training now?

I mainly learn chess by competing with rivals on the Internet as no coach or expert in Vietnam is qualified to train a grandmaster.

What do you plan to do on your birthday on March 13?

As previous years, I celebrate it with my family and friends.

The Vietnamese government has given financial support to Liem for overseas competition.

As for international open tournaments, Ho Chi Minh City Sports Department is in charge of covering costs for his competition trips. Other events like the Olympic Games, Asian Games and Sea Games, Vietnam Chess Federation will cover his expenses.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Ho Chi Minh City outlines sport strategy

Nine kinds of sports will be the focus of HCM City's main sports activities under a plan to 2020, according to officials.

Mai
Ba Hung, deputy director of the city's Department of Cultural, Sports
and Tourism, said the sports include taekwondo, judo, volleyball,
athletics, bicycle, table tennis, tennis, badminton and football.

Although these sports are popular, they have not been developed adequately, Hung said.

The
city will also focus on enhancing Olympic sports like weight-lifting
and gymnastics, as well as athletics, male volleyball, martial arts,
tennis and badminton.

In addition, the HCM City Football Club
said it will further invest in football, although the club is faced with
a shortage of finances.

The department has also asked Thong Nhat
Stadium to offer training programmes for young footballers to develop a
long-term pool of players for football.

Hung, who is upbeat about the sport, said: "I think city football will see further progress this year."

Other sports like table tennis, cycling and tennis will also receive more funds from various sources.

The city will also work with the sports federation to send athletes abroad for professional training, according to Hung.

Officials
said the city was considering plans to build the Rach Chiec Sport
Centre and the HCM City Sport Centre, the latter expected to be located
near the Phu Tho racetrack.

HCM City is also preparing necessary documents to ask for the right to host the SEA Games in 2015, 2017 or 2019.

For
long-term planning, the department will select athletes with the most
potential and train them into professional athletes. It is also working
with many sport centres to invest in other sports with potential,
especially beach volleyball.

The number of city residents who
play sports has been increasing, accounting for up to 25 percent of the
city's population until October last year, according to city
authorities.

In 2010, the city held a total of nearly 800 amateur sport competitions./.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Gastronomy festival opens in Ho Chi Minh City

The fifth gastronomy festival opened in Ho Chi Minh City on December 26
to promote Vietnamese and international food to domestic and foreign
visitors.

Being jointly organised by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture,
Sports and Tourism, the municipal Tourism Association and the Youth
Advertising Company, the event is part of activities to welcome the
lunar New Year (Tet) festival.

As many as 43 businesses from
18 countries, including Cambodia, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, China, Italy,
Malaysia, Singapore and the Republic of Korea (RoK) are displaying
their products at 50 booths.

Visitors will have a chance to
enjoy a wide range of activities including a street parade with a large
number of professional and amateur artists, bartender performances,
Vietnam’s biggest rice pancake and vote for delicious dishes from 18
countries.

There will also be special performances by artists
from the RoK, Russia, Germany and Vietnam, and a fashion show with ao
dai (Vietnamese traditional long dress), RoK hanbok, Japanese kimono,
and traditional costumes of other countries.

In particular, a
music gala to welcome New Year on Dec. 31 with firework displays,
traditional dancing performances and discount programmes at all stalls
will also be held.

The event will last until January 2, 2011./.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Vietnam, Hungary expand cultural cooperation

An exhibition on paintings and statues by Hungarian artists are taking
place in Ho Chi Minh City from November 3-7, as part of activities to
mark the 60 th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and
Hungary.

The event was jointly held by the Vietnam Union of Friendship
Organisations, the HCM City Vietnam-Hungary Friendship Association and
the Hungarian Embassy in Vietnam.

On display were 50 works of painting, sculpture, graphic and video.

Vizi Laszlo, Hungarian Ambassador to Vietnam said that the event
offered a chance to expand cultural cooperation between the two
countries, affirming that the Hungarian government considered Vietnam as
its strategic partner in Asia and the Southeast Asian region.

He added that the two countries should boost cooperation in not only
politics, economy, trade but also culture and education.

Hua Ngoc Thuan, deputy chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee
said that the friendship and cooperative ties between Vietnam and
Hungary in general, and between Ho Chi Minh City and Hungary in
particular have been expanded in many fields including politics,
economy, education and training, and cultural exchange./.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Strong foreign squads compete at Int’l U.21 contest

The U21 Malaysian squad arrived at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport on Thursday morning

Four foreign teams will compete with hosts Vietnam at the fourth International Under-21 Football Tournament which kicks off at Ho Chi Minh City’s Thong Nhat Stadium on Saturday, October 23.

The organizers of the Thanh Nien-sponsored nine-day event said that the Singaporeans are the most prominent contenders at the contest.

Nine members of the squad advanced to the semifinals in last year’s competition in Binh Duong.

Five of them competed at the second event in Hue in 2008 and four of them played at the 25th Southeast Asian Games (SEA) in Vientiane last year.

Thailand’s team includes 90 percent of the U19 squad that advanced to the final match of the 2010 SEA U19 event in Ho Chi Minh City in August.

The Thais intend to groom these players to compete at the 26th biennial Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta next year in the U23 category.

After their U23 team’s defeat at Thang Long Cup in HCMC early this month, Malaysia said they do not want to lose face again. Their U21 team coach Ibrahim Ismail said his squad includes seven players who competed last year and three that played at the second contest in Hue in 2008.

After a year off, Myanmar returns to this event with big hopes.

“The Thanh Nien-sponsored International U21 Football Tournament is a great place for us to discover new talent for Myanmar’s team to participate at the ASEAN Football Federation Cup (later this year),” wrote coach Than Htike in a letter sent to the Vietnam Football Federation. “We are in the same group with hosts Vietnam and will play the opener, so we will do our best.”

The Asian Football Confederation said it will send five international referees to the event. They are Lee Dong Jun from South Korea, Krishnan S/O Ramachandran from Malaysia, Xaypasenth Phongsanith from Laos and Thong Chanketya and Doung Sochet from Cambodia.

The three Vietnamese referees at the tournament will be Vo Minh Tri, Chau Duc Thanh and Tran Thanh Liem.