Rising star Thien moves up ITF world junior rankings

On the move: Teenager Nguyen Hoang Thien has moved up the International Tennis Federation's junior rankings. — VNA/VNS Photo Quang Nhut

HA NOI — Young Vietnamese tennis player Nguyen Hoang Thien has moved up seven places from 241st to 234th in the world junior ranking this month, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced.

Thien got into the federation's U18 Group 4 semi-finals in the men's singles in the Tennis Central 18&under ITF Summer Championship in New Zealand last week and won the men's doubles.

The HCM City product hopes to reach the federation's top 100 junior ranking within the next two years.

Thien, who became the first Vietnamese player to get to an Australian Open Junior Championship, returned to the country yesterday.

The 16-year-old won the Viet Nam International Junior Championships in Binh Duong and Bac Lieu last year.

In 2008, he beat Amer Naow of Syria in the boys' singles final and a silver medal doubles at the Asian U-14 Championships in Bahrain before cruising in the boys' singles final of Asian Juniors Circuit Tennis Tournament in Chandigarh, India.

As scheduled, Thien will take part in four tournaments within a month from next Friday in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.

He will then travel to France for training and competition until the end of the year, working with two coaches to improve his performance on clay. — VNS

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Thien notches doubles victory in New Zealand ITF championship

Vietnamese teenager Nguyen Hoang Thien and his partner Jack Schipanski of Australia have won the men's doubles event at the Tennis Central U18 ITF Summer Championship in New Zealand.

Thien and Schipanski defeated Mouslay Bradley-Li Tu of Australia 6-3, 6-0 in around 60 minutes on Friday.

Later in the tournament, Thien lost 3-6, 3-6 to his partner in the men's singles semi-finals.

It is the third time in a year that Thien has triumphed in an U18 tournament. The two previous occasions were in Viet Nam.

His victory was a step towards breaking into the top 200 players in the world, a feat he plans to achieve this year.

Thien was the first Vietnamese player to be invited to play in the Australian Open.

Liem on track to defend Moscow championship crown

International Grand Master (IGM) Le Quang Liem is sitting at the top of the Russian Aeroflot Chess Festival after his first draw on Saturday in Moscow.

Liem won his first four games but could only manage to tie with host rival GM Evgeny Tomashevsky in his fifth round match.

The Vietnamese star is right on track to defending his title after defeating tournament favourite and former world champion Gata Kamsky of the US on Friday.

Liem, who is attempting to become the first Vietnamese super IGM this year, will next face GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan who is currently in fourth position.

The tournament will conclude on Saturday with a prize of US$20,000 going to the winner. — VNS

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Top badminton player Minh to take part in All England tourney

Viet Nam's top badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh will take part in the US$350,000 Yonex All England Championships in Birmingham from March 8-13.

The tournament, which is part of the Super Series Premier circuit, is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious badminton events. It attracts top players from around the world including Lee Chong Wei, Taufik Hidayat and Lin Dan.

After the event, Minh will move to Basel in Switzerland to compete in the $125,000 Swiss Open and then to the Asian Championships in April in Sichuan, China.

The Olympian is currently ranked seventh in the world.

Hoang Thien progresses at world junior tennis event

Nguyen Hoang Thien entered the semi-finals of the 2011 Tennis Central 18&U ITF Summer Championships after beating Australian 14th seed Jacob Sullivan yesterday in in New Zealand.

In Wellington City, the fifth seed Thien, 16, dropped in the first set before recovering to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-0. He faces another Australian, the third-seeded Jack Schipanski, in the semi-final match today.

Earlier, Thien defeated New Zealand's Pratt Keerasuntonpong 6-3, 6-3 in the first round and Brafley Mousley of Australia 6-3, 6-1 in the next round before eliminating local Cameron Norrie 6-1, 7-6 in the third.

The six-day tournament is scheduled to finish on Saturfay in Wellington.

Thien was ranked 241 in the world according to the latest world ranking table released on Monday by the International Tennis Federation. He attended training courses in the US in 2005, just two years after he took up the sport at the age of eight.

National cycling team to race at Asian Championships

Viet Nam will send a team of 12 cyclists to participate in the Asian Cycling Championships in Thailand from February 17-20.

The team includes eight veteran and four young cyclists. The competition will provide the athletes with a chance to hone their skills in preparation for the 26th Southeast Asian Games.

They are trained by coach Tran Van Quyt at the HCM City-based National Sports Training Centre

Last year, youngster Nguyen Thi That won a silver medal at the Asian event. — VNS

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Hoang Thien progresses at world junior tennis event

Nguyen Hoang Thien

Vietnamese tennis player Nguyen Hoang Thien, 16, made encouraging performances at the 2011 Tennis Central 18 & U ITF Summer Championships in New Zealand after he defeated two rivals to clinch a spot to the 1/16 round.

The fifth seed Thien Tuesday won Bradley Mousley of Australia 6-3 6-1 in the second round. In the previous day, he had defeated host player Pratt Keerasuntonpong 6-3 6-3 in the opening round.

He is scheduled to take on the 12th seed of New Zealand Cameron Norrie in the third and 1/16 round today. The six-day tournament is slated to close on February 12 in Wellington.

Thien now ranks 241st according to the latest world ranking table released on Monday by the International Tennis Federation.

In a talk with Tuoi Tre on Tuesday, his father Nguyen Ngoc Minh said the achievement is resulted from strong investment by family during the last six years.

He said he sent his son to attend training courses in the US in 2005, just two years after he started training tennis at his age of eight.

Training and competition abroad has cost Thien permanent life far away from home and had never enjoyed New Year festival with family during the last six years.

Family spent almost US$2 million for him to train abroad in a bid to excel him to one of top-class player in the world, Minh said.

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Thien wins first match at tennis tourney in Malaysia

Nguyen Hoang Thien easily beat Wilson Jorge of Germany 6-0, 6-1 in the last 32 round of the Sarawak Chief Minister's Tennis Cup on Wednesday in Malaysia.

The Vietnamese will next face Harris Andrew of Australia who is seeded No 16.

Thien is currently world junior No 338.

In other tennis news, Huynh Phuong Dai Trang paired with Kato Maya of Japan defeated Thai couple Pliphuech and Samrej 7-6, 6-1 in the quarter-finals of the Khon Kaen tennis tournament in Thailand.

They will play another Thai duo Khuntaket and Wongteanchai in next round.

Trang however lost 6-1, 6-1 to her partner in the last 16 round in the women's singles event.

Alves signs for three years with first division Ha Tinh

Huynh Kesley Alves finally put pen to paper on a confidential three-year contract with First Division Xuan Thanh Ha Tinh.

The 30-year-old striker signed for an undisclosed fee, but the club have affirmed that the contract sets a club record, and confirms Alves as their top earner. The club also said their bid had outstripped rival offers by some margin.

Viet Nam drops 14 places in FIFA rankings to 139th

Viet Nam dropped 14 places to 139th in FIFA's October rankings, released on Wednesday.

Viet Nam took only 79.9 points from a draw against North Korea during the Millennium Cup earlier this month, while losing two friendlies to India and Kuwait last week.

The fall also meant Viet Nam crashed out of the Asian top 10, and they now stand 21st in the continental rankings.

However, they remain No 3 in Southeast Asia as almost all the teams in the region also dropped places.

Viet Nam U-16 team hope to surprise at Asian Cup

The Vietnamese team arrived in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, yesterday for the 2010 Asian Under-16 Football Championship.

Viet Nam have drawn in the same group with Japan, Australia and Timor Leste.

Viet Nam take on Japan next Monday, Australia on October 27, and Timor Leste on October 29.

Last month Viet Nam won the AFF Under-16 Championship in Indonesia. — VNS

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Thien wins second championship title at U18 ITF

Nguyen Hoang Thien

Photo: Tuoi Tre

Vietnamese tennis player Nguyen Hoang Thien, 15, won the U18 International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) Group 5 championship title after beating Estonia’s Markus Kerner 2-0 in just 55 minutes in the southern province of Binh Duong on October 15.

He eased to a 6-2, 6-0 victory in just 55 minutes to take his second title of the year.

“I am happy and satisfied with this result,” said Thien. “I made a lot of efforts to win two championship titles in succession after my 6-month shoulder injury.”

The event in Binh Duong attracted 150 players from 23 nations and territories in the world.

On October 9, he had won the ITF Youth Tennis Open in the boys' singles event after beating Chinese Taipei Cheng Kuang Yu 2-0 (6-2, 6-2) in southern province of Bac Lieu.

Thien had jumped from 436th to 369th in the ITF’s junior rankings announced on October 11 due to these two titles.

According to the Vietnam Tennis Federation, for the first time, Thien will join Do Minh Quan and Le Quoc Khanh to represent Vietnam at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China next month.

“My target this year is to enter the world’s top 200 young tennis players,” he said.

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Thien triumphs at junior tournament

BINH DUONG — Viet Nam's Nguyen Hoang Thien has lifted the Becamex Cup by outclassing Makus Kerner of Estonia in two straight sets to win the 2010 Viet Nam International Junior Tennis Championship.

At Binh Duong near HCM City yesterday the top-seeded Thien broke Kerner's service in the fourth and sixth games of the first set to win 6-2.

All the fight seemed to leave the fourth seed in the second set as Thien took it 6-0 to win the match in just 55 minutes.

"Because Kerner is tall and strong, I used low balls to prevent his powerful forehands," Thien said.

He will next play in a Grade 3 junior tournament in Malaysia next week before going on to the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, next month.

"I have been out of tennis for six months because of injury. Now I am fit and hope to earn more points by the end of the year to improve my ranking," he said.

It is the 15-year-old's second title in two weeks after winning a similar tournament in Bac Lieu province.

The 30 points he has got from the tournament will see his ranking rise from the current 369th.

Vietnamese pair Nguyen Ngoc Minh and Phan Thi Thanh Binh squandered three match points to lose to top-seeded Anna Clarice Patrimonio of the Philippines and Nadya Syarifah of Indonesia in the final.

Vietnamese-Philippine Nguyen Tamitha,16, beat Patrimonio in straight sets (6-2, 6-4) to win the girls' singles. — VNS

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Thien cruises to junior tennis quarterfinal

Teenager Nguyen Hoang Thien cruised to the quarters-finals of the Viet Nam International Junior Championship after beating Denmark's Mikael Torpegaard 6-4, 6-2 in southern Binh Duong Province yesterday.

Thien, the top seed, beat South Korea's Lee Sung-hui 6-0, 6-1 in the boys' singles first round on Monday.

The 15-year-old will meet Sweden's Solberg Christoffer, who beat Vietnamese Ho Huynh Dan Mach 6-2, 6-4, in the quarters at Binh Duong's Becamex Sports Centre today.

On Saturday, Thien won the men's singles title at the International Junior Championships in the southern province of Bac Lieu.

Two years ago, Thien took the singles title in Binh Duong Province, but only managed third place last year.

Born in 1995, Thien first stepped onto a tennis court at the age of eight.

His target is to break into the top 200 in the world by the time he's 18.

He currently ranks 431st in the International Tennis Federation's junior rankings.

Santos says no plans for Binh Duong move

Goalkeeper Phan Van Santos says he has not signed a contract with the Becamex Binh Duong football club for the next V-League season.

"It is not true that I have signed a three-year contract with Binh Duong and I am currently under contract with Navibank Sai Gon," the former national goalkeeper told Viet Nam News, rejecting local reports about his move.

The naturalised Brazilian Vietnamese, known for scoring goals from free kicks, is on a four-day business trip to Singapore.

Santos, 33, who was granted Vietnamese citizenship in 2008, has played football in Viet Nam for nine years and is one of the most successful goalkeepers in the V-League.

In eight years with Dong Tam Long An, he won two V-League titles before moving to Navibank Sai Gon in the second half of last season. — VNS

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