Gymnasts to contest Asian Champs

HCM CITY — Athletes from 10 Asian nations and Hong Kong will compete at the second Asian Aerobic Gymnastics Championships that will take place on December 16-18 at the Phan Dinh Phung Gymnasium in HCM City.

Teams from Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Iran, India, Japan, Mongolia, the Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka and host nations Viet Nam will have a total of 139 contestants vying for prizes in three age brackets – 12-14, 15-17 and adults.

All the events will have five categories for which prizes will be awarded: men's singles, women's singles, mixed doubles, team of three and team of six.

The Vietnamese contingent will have 28 athletes, including Southeast Asian Games gold medallists Vu Ba Dong and Tran Thi Thu Ha, led by head coach Vu Tuyet Anh. South Korea is sending the largest team with 32 athletes.

Nguyen Kim Lan, vice president of Viet Nam Gymanstics Federation, said China, Japan and South Korea are strong teams.

At the first Aerobic Gymnastics Championships in Thailand and Viet Nam had 12 athletes each. The Vietnamese athletes won one gold medals, two silvers and one bronze.

Entry to the championship is free for the public. — VNS

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Vuvuzelas could be banned after being used as missiles

Photo: Reuters

Vuvuzelas could be banned in South African soccer grounds unless fans of the country's most popular club, Kaizer Chiefs, improve their behavior, officials have warned.

Kaizer Chiefs were given a record fine of 500,000 rand (US$72,130) -- suspended for 12 months -- and their chairman was ordered to make a public apology after supporters threw two vuvuzelas and a cabbage on to the pitch during a recent cup game against Moroka Swallows.

"Should vuvuzelas continue to be used as missiles they could be banned from PSL (Premier Soccer League) matches," the league's prosecutor Zola Majavu told a news conference.

The club, whose fans have taken credit for making the noisy plastic vuvuzela trumpets a popular part of South African football culture, were ordered to pay costs of 21,000 rand for the disciplinary hearing and told to hold a news conference to denounce spectator misbehavior.

"We call upon (fans) to help identify rogue elements intent on causing disruption," club chairman Kaizer Motaung told the news conference on Thursday. “Once (they are) identified we intend to blacklist theses individuals.”

In recent years, South African fans have started taking loaves of bread and raw cabbages to games, eating them in front of television cameras to symbolize 'eating' their opponents.

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