VN set for new sepak takraw cup

Viet Nam will take part in the first sepak takraw World Cup to be held in Malaysia on July 21-14.

Viet Nam is regarded as one of the strongest teams at the tournament, which will see 24 men's and 12 women's teams competing at the Titiwangsa Gymnasium in Kuala Lumpur.

Badminton tourney set for March

The Ciputra Ha Noi Challenge badminton tournament will kick off on March 29 with the participation of players from China, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and New Zealand.

The annual event has a top prize of US$15,000 awarded in the men's and women's singles and doubles and mixed doubles categories.

The finals are scheduled for April 3 at the capital's Trinh Hoai Duc Gymnasium.

FA Cup trophy to tour Viet Nam

The FA Cup will tour Viet Nam next month following an agreement signed on January 29 between the English Football Association (FA) and the Viet Nam Football Federation.

The exhibit will tour Ha Noi, Da Nang, HCM City and Can Tho.

A report by the FA shows that the 140-year-old competition, the oldest domestic football competition in the world, is broadcast in 160 nations and territories across the world, attracting over 1.4 billion spectators.

The FA Cup was first held in 1871-72. It involves clubs of all standards playing against each other, including "minnows" from lower divisions and giants from the English Premier League.

The holders of the FA Cup are Chelsea, who beat Portsmouth in the 2010 final to complete an FA Cup and League double.

The tour is sponsored by Big Cola. — VNS

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Backstreet Boys set to perform in Viet Nam

The male pop group Backstreet Boys (BSB) will perform in Vietnam in March, following their tour to Latin America .

The American band said on its website that it expected a total of
55,000 concert attendees in HCM City on March 24 and 26 in Ha Noi.

According to organisers, the show is the same as the one performed on other stops during the band's worldwide tour.

"BSB has a very strong and loyal fan base here in Vietnam . You can
sense the excitement about their impending arrival. Water Buffalo
Productions (WBP) strives to produce the highest standards and know that
the BSB shows will amazing and memorable," says Stephen Bures, the
Deputy General Director of the WBP.

"We haven't had a band
perform a show of such magnitude in Vietnam , and the WBP is making
sure that this show will be on par with any international performance."

The four members of the group, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian
Littrell and A. J. McLean, will perform at Military Zone 7's Stadium in
HCM City and My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi .

They will sing their hits I Want It That Way, I'll Never Break Your
Heart, Straight Through My Heart and others from their This Is Us album.

The performance is part of the tour This Is Us that began
in fall 2009 and will continue to the end of this year. They have had
20 shows thus far.

This concert tour is the first to feature dancers since the band's 2001 Black and Blue world tour.

After the show in Vietnam , the group will return to the US to
begin a tour with the 1980s-leading band New Kids on the Block.

The vocal group Backstreet Boys was formed in Orlando , Florida in
1993. The band originally consisted of five members, A. J. McLean,
Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson.

They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys
in 1996. In the following year, they released their second
international album, Backstreet's Back.

The men rose to
superstardom with their album Millennium in 1999, with more than nine
million sales. The number rose to 13 million in March 2001./.

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Thang Long-Hanoi in the eyes of foreign friends

Hanoi, the 1,000-year-old city, is developing rapidly, yet still maintains its own unique character and traditional values.

This
was stated by German journalist Maris Kristin, who agreed with 14 other
reporters, who went on a week-long tour of the city called “the Heart
of Vietnam”, organised by the municipal People’s Committee from
September 9-15.

Moved by Hanoi’s beauty, Park Hae-Yoon from the
Republic of Korea, wrote 7 pages on Hanoi, describing it as
active, but ancient and peaceful.

Coming from a country which is
famous for its culture, Refat Ablelsamiaa Abbas Abdelmoaty Hussein from
Egyptian Television, learnt about Hanoi through its folk songs. He
said he loved these melodies and intended to use them as background
music for his report on Hanoi . He added that he wants to get a CD of
Vietnamese folk music.

Meanwhile, Vansili Bounthi, a reporter
from the Laotian daily newspaper the Pasason, described the tour as his
return to his home. “ Hanoi is very close to my heart and I have with
many memories of when I was a student there,” he said.

During
the tour, the foreign reporters visited world heritage sites recognised
by UNESCO, including the Thang Long Royal Citadel and the Temple of
Literature, the country’s first university. They also visited the
historical sites of Son Tay citadel and Duong Lam village and the craft
villages of Van Phuc for its silk and Bat Trang for its ceramics.

While
writing about the capital city’s culture, traditions and economic
development, all the journalists on the tour said they believed that
Hanoi would have wonderful 1,000 year birthday celebration./.

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Sorry Woods fails to make Tour Championship

Tiger Woods waits in the 10th tee during the third round of the Barclays golf tournament in Paramus, New Jersey August 28, 2010

Photo: Reuters

There is still plenty of golf ahead for Tiger Woods this year but his PGA Tour season came to an early end at the BMW Championship on Sunday after he failed to earn a spot in the Tour Championship.

For the first time in 15-years, Woods finishes his PGA Tour season without claiming a single title but the world number one at least managed to exit on a positive note firing three birdies on a bogey-free back nine for a final round one-under 70.

The back-nine charge, however, was far too little, too late to earn Woods a place in the elite 30-man field for the lucrative season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta.

His one-under total of 283 left him in a tie for 15th and well out of the fifth place finish he needed to advance to the finale.

It marks the third time in five years that Woods has not played the Tour Championship. He missed the event in 2008 while recuperating from knee surgery and in 2006 when he qualified but decided to end his season early.

Instead of making the trip to East Lake, Woods will have two weeks off to work on his inconsistent game and prepare for next month's Ryder Cup showdown with Europe at Celtic Manor.

"That's just the way it is," shrugged Woods, when asked if he was disappointed not to be headed to Atlanta. "I didn't play well early in the year and I didn't play well in the middle of the year.

" I've played better than I have all this year, but it is what it is.

“I didn't qualify and since I'm at home it gives me two weeks to practice and prepare."

Woods has plenty to occupy his time as he struggles to put his personal life back together after scandalous divorce and continues to work on a swing overhaul.

Aside from the Ryder Cup, Woods will have other opportunities to test the progress of his revamped swing with events in Australia and China as well as his own tournament on his late season schedule.

During another rollercoaster week at Cog Hill, Woods displayed only occasional flashes of the supreme ability that carried him to 14 major titles.

There are signs, however, that he is not far away from returning to his old dominating form, according to world number two Phil Mickelson, who was paired with his great rival during Sunday's final round.

"I think his game is like inches from being there," said Mickelson. "His speed is back, he's solid, very close.

"He hit a lot of good shots there coming in, he made a couple of bogeys and followed up with a number of birdies there toward the end.

"You can tell that his game is like inches from turning because his speed is back and his putter looks great.”

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Atwal success fuels India's major ambitions

India's Arjun Atwal became the first Indian and just the sixth Asian-born player to win on the PGA Tour when he secured a one-stroke victory at the Wyndham Championship on August 22, 2010

Photo: Reuters

Arjun Atwal's PGA Tour triumph shone as a beacon on an otherwise dark Sunday for Indian sports, fuelling the world's second most populous country's hopes of celebrating a maiden major victory in the not too distant future.

The Florida-based 37-year-old is often world number one Tiger Woods' practice partner and keeping such company helped him become the first Indian to win a PGA Tour title with his one-stroke victory at the Wyndham Championship on Sunday.

Atwal's achievement came on a day when monsoon rains impeded Delhi's Commonwealth Games preparations and the cricket-crazy nation slumped into depression after the one-day side were hammered by hosts Sri Lanka in the tri-series at Dambulla.

Celebrating the triumph almost as much as the player himself, Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) director Padamjit Singh Sandhu believes a major win for an Indian was now a distinct possibility.

"I mean, why not?" he told Reuters on Monday. "It is clearly a defining moment for professional golf in India."

"This win will act as a strong catalyst to the growth of the sport in the region.

"This win confirms Arjun's class as a complete professional and had established the growing strength of Indian golf on the world stage."

Asked how long it might take, Sandhu added: "I would not like to take a guess but the progress we have seen in professional golf in India gives us confidence that we are on the right path.

"We are now more confident of strong Indian finishes in global events over the coming years."

Promising trio

Sandhu said while veterans Atwal and Jeev Milkha Singh had the best chances of breaking India's major duck, the promising trio of Shiv Kapur, Gaganjeet Bhullar and Anirban Lahiri were also well positioned to make that breakthrough.

Two-time Asian Tour winner Bhullar said Atwal had set the bar higher for his compatriots.

"Every player on the planet dreams of winning on PGA Tour and he has done it leading from round one, which is amazing,' he said.

"I saw it live on television last night and had an amazing feeling, I expect the victory to change the face of Indian golf.

"Maybe India's time has come and we are close to winning a major in the near future."

Sharing his optimism, experienced Indian golf journalist V Krishnaswamy, who saw Atwal win his first Asian Tour title in 1999, said it was only a matter of time before an Indian secured a major victory.

"Now that the Indian golfers have won on every tour, winning a major is very much in the realm of possibility," said Krishnaswamy, who has been following the progress of the Indian golfers for the past two decades.

"Jeev had a top 10 finish in the 2008 PGA Championship and here you have Atwal winning on PGA Tour. The Indian golfers just need to be part of the field in majors and it can happen any week."

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