Ha Noi women win National Games gold

The Ha Noi women's football team claimed the gold medal at the National Games by edging Ha Nam 1-0 at HCM City's Thong Nhat Stadium on Friday.

The had previously beat HCM City 4-1 and Quang Ninh 1-0 to remain unbeaten en route to their title.

After splitting points with HCM City in their last match, Quang Ninh finished on four points to win the silver medal, while Ha Nam took the bronze on three.

Defending champions HCM City finished with a single point to sit bottom of the four-team round-robin event.

Viet Nam rank third at Asia aerobics champs

Viet Nam ranked third with two gold, three silver and six bronze medals at the second Asian Aerobics Championships that concluded in HCM City on Friday.

Vietnamese athletes secured two golds in women's single and team events.

Meanwhile Japan took the lead in the medal tally with four golds and two silvers. They were followed by China with three golds.

The championships drew 139 athletes from 11 nations and territories who completed in men's and women's singles, mixed and team events in three age groups. — VNS

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Prehistoric relics discovered in Quang Ninh

Vestiges of prehistoric human settlements and two historic seaports have
been discovered by archeologists in Bai Tu Long Bay in the northern
province of Quang Ninh.

Traces of prehistoric peoples
have been found at Ang Gia Cave in Thang Loi commune and at Hoi Cave in
Ban Sen commune, including stone tools and fossilised remnants of burned
wood, animal bones, and a large number of shells of Melania (a kind of
freshwater snail) and of Cyclophorus (mountain snail).

Two stone tools were also recovered from the bottom of a stream, suggesting they were left in the process of tool-making.

Many of the shells of the freshwater snails show evidence of having
their ends broken to extract the meat, said Prof Trinh Nang Chung, head
of the excavating team.

The two newly discovered caves
were used by prehistoric people when the area was not separated from the
mainland by the sea, Chung said, suggesting that the people might be
from the Soi Nhu Culture, vestiges of which were earlier found in Ha
Long and Bai Tu Long bays.

They lived there about 10,000 years ago, Chung said.

Traces of two seaports from the Tran (1225-1400) and Le (1428-1788)
dynasties – designated the Map Tai Port and Dau Su Port – were
found in Ngoc Vung and Minh Chau communes, respectively, along with a
large quantity of ceramic pieces in blue and white glaze, with some
thought to have been imported from abroad.

The seaports
were believed to belong to the Van Don port system, which was first
established in 1149 and in use between the 12th and 18th centuries, at
first for trade with ships from other Southeast Asian countries, and
later with China , Japan , and the Middle East . The two main ports
in the system, the Cai Lang and Cong Cai ports, were located on Van Hai
Island./.

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Vietnam-China Singing Contest kicks off

The Vietnam-China Friendship Singing Contest 2010 kicked off in Ha Long
city in the northern coastal province of Quang Ninh on Sept. 13.

The contest is being held by Quang Ninh radio and
television station and the Vietnam Television Corporation in association
with China’s Guangxi radio station and international radio station
to mark the 60 th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties.

The contest is held in both Vietnam and China
and entrants - professional and amateur singers aged between 18-60 -
will sing one Vietnamese and one Chinese song.

In China, the contest concluded in Guangxi province on July 28.

In Vietnam, the organising board will choose six contestants from 10
outstanding singers in the final round of the contest that is being
held in Ha Long city and Hanoi to the final round of the contest that
will take place in China’s Nanning city in early November 2010.

The contest aims to promote the cultural exchange and
mutual understanding between the two peoples along Vietnam’s border
provinces of Quang Ninh, Lang Son, Cao Bang, Ha Giang and Lao Cai and
China’s Guangxi and Yunnan provinces./.

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Ha Long Bay vies for honours in world wonders

Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh province, a UNESCO recognised world’s
heritage site, has jumped to second place among 28 finalists of the
online voting for the world’s new seven wonders.

The voting was launched by New Open World (NOW) and is available at http://www.vote 7.com.

The
positive result is thanks to Quang Ninh province’s efforts in boosting
information dissemination and promotion of the image of Ha Long Bay to
foreign friends.

The province has also developed
tourism linkages with other provinces nationwide, especially the
country’s five biggest tourism centres.

The Vietnam
National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) has planned a promotion
campaign and asked Quang Ninh province to publish a tourism publication
on Ha Long Bay with attached voting guidelines as well as build a game
show named “Impressive Vietnam”.

Ha Long Bay is drawing
the attention of tourists from both road and waterways, helping to
bring 5.3 million visitors to Quang Ninh in the first eight months of
the year with estimated revenue of 2.3 trillion VND./.

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Navibank Saigon secure a place in V-League next season

HCMC – V-League team Navibank Saigon beat First Division team Quang Ninh Coal 2-0 in their V-League relegation play-off at Chi Lang Stadium in the central coast city of Danang on Sunday to secure a place in the top league next season.

The two teams started the game slowly and played aggressively, hoping for their opponent’s mistakes but they both could not change the status quo. The first half ended scoreless despite their players created some attacks to their opponent’s defense line.

The game was the different story after the break. Navibank Saigon dominated the game as their forwarders put more pressure on Quang Ninh Coal defending line. Nguyen Van Khai surprisingly opened the score for the V-League team in the 61st minute following an error from Quang Ninh Coal keeper.

Navibank Saigon continued to dominate the game with many opportunities and Leandro De Oliveira finalized the game at 2-0 just five minutes later.

Both Quang Ninh Coal’s defensive and offensive moves were strong in the dying minutes while Navibank Saigon played defensively and relied on rare counter attacks aimed to protect the score.

Despite strong attacks, Quang Ninh Coal players failed to convert any opportunities into goals while Navibank Saigon succeeded in controlling the game. 

The V-League – PetroVietnam Gas 2010 finished two weeks ago. Hanoi T&T won the V-League title, Haiphong were runners-up and Dong Thap were third while bottom-placed team Nam Dinh dropped out of the V-League and Navibank Saigon secured the play-off ticket.

In the First-Division championship that finished at the same time, Hanoi ACB, who claimed the First Division title, won promotion to V-League next year and second-placed Quang Ninh Coal secured the play-off position. Tien Giang relegated to the Second Division in the next season

Next season the V-League will have 14 teams and the First Division will have the same number of teams, one more than now. The new season will begin in December with the Super Cup match when V-League champions Hanoi T&T will meet National Cup winners Song Lam Nghe An.

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Teams named for play-off showdown

HCM CITY — After much speculation, teams for the football play-off match were announced on Tuesday by the Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF).

VFF's statement on its website said that Navibank Sai Gon and Quang Ninh Coal would play on September 5 at Chi Lang stadium in Da Nang to determine the last slot in the V-League 2011.

According to an agreement signed by all 27 V-League and First Division clubs at the beginning of the 2010 season, if the number of clubs operating as businesses in the First Division is less than 10, only the champion will be promoted to the top-flight competition, and the runners-up will have to play the play-off.

First Division runner-up Quang Ninh, instead of being promoted directly to the V-League, will play against V-League's next-to-last Navibank Sai Gon, who struck it lucky to compete in the play-off match thanks to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC)'s requirements.

Since the season 2011, AFC, Asia's football governing body, requires all teams in the V-League to operate as businesses. VFF set a deadline for all teams to complete their procedures until 5pm on August 31.

As of that day, VFF said that only two V-League clubs, Cao Su Dong Thap and Lam Son Thanh Hoa, had completed procedures to be businesses. As a result, V-League now has 13 clubs as businesses while the First Division has eight clubs. — VNS

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