VietNam Culture: Quarter

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Wozniacki reaches Australian Open quarter-finals

Caroline Wozniacki

Photo: AFP

Denmark's top seeded Caroline Wozniacki moved into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-4 win over unseeded Latvian Anastasija Sevastova.

It is the first time the 20-year-old world number one has progressed past the fourth round in Melbourne and keeps alive her hopes of winning a maiden Grand Slam title.

Wozniacki failed to dominate her unheralded opponent and struggled to hold serve throughout their Sunday's 80-minute encounter.

However she prayed on Sevastova's mistakes while hardly making any of her own, committing just 14 unforced errors to the Latvian's 36 over the two sets.

"Anastasija's a tough opponent – she mixes her game up so well," Wozniacki said.

"She can play hard and then slows the ball down and it makes it hard to play against her."

Wozniacki has had to answer questions all week about the legitimacy of her world number one ranking after she reached the pinnacle without having won a Grand Slam.

But she has now won all four matches in Melbourne without dropping a set.

She next takes on either dual Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova or reigning French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in the quarter-finals.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Italy helps to preserve Hanoi’s Old Quarter

Italy, with its expertise in restoring ancient historical buildings and
artefacts, such as the city of Genoa, is ready to assist Hanoi to
restore and improve its Old Quarter.

Speaking at
a seminar on improving the role and efficiency of the local officials
who are responsible for managing Hanoi’s Old Quarter on September 15,
Cesare Bieller, head of the Political and Cultural Section at the
Italian Embassy in Hanoi, stressed that preserving the Old Quarter must
be a shared responsibility that includes the whole community and needs
to be carried out to improve living standards and economic efficiency.

According to leading architect Dao Ngoc Nghiem,
former Director of Hanoi’s Department of Architectural Planning, the Old
Quarter is extremely valuable to the local people, commerce, culture
and the city’s architecture.

Therefore, any
preservation must conform to the Government’s regulations and be
developed and managed in cooperation with local officials and the
public, he said.

Hanoi ’s old houses and
buildings reflect the city’s different architectural styles during each
period of its history so they need to be restored and preserved, he
added.

According to the Management Board for
Hanoi’s Old Quarter, which covers nearly 100ha and includes almost
1,000 old houses, it is now seriously run down due to the increasing
number of residents living in the area.

At
present, Hanoi is introducing measures to preserve and promote its
cultural value, as well as attempting to reduce the population to
minimise the negative impacts on the Old Quarter./.

VietNam Culture