VN official elected to AFC Standing Committee

Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF) Secretary General Tran Quoc Tuan has been elected to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Standing Committee for the 2011-15 term.

According to the VFF website, at a council meeting of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) in Malaysia, the federation introduced Tuan as its representative to the AFC.

The results of the vote were announced on Sunday at a regular meeting.

This is the first time the VFF has had a representative in the AFC standing committee.

Tuan is currently the Commissioner of AFC and member of AFC's Vision Asia committee.

Quoc hopes to recover before Asian

Top table tennis player Doan Kien Quoc has received two weeks of treatment for a shoulder injury at Viet Nam Sports Hospital, his coach Truong Thoi Nhiem said yesterday.

Quoc, 31, who plays for PetroVietnam, is expected to make a speedy recovery from the minor injury.

The two-time Olympian will be competing at the Asian Games in Guangzhou next month.

16 VN fencers to compete in eight events at Asian Games

Viet Nam will send 16 athletes to compete in eight fencing events at the Asian Games next month.

The team will include twin sisters Nguyen Thi Le Dung and Nguyen Hoai Thu as well as in form Nguyen Thi Thuy Chung, Nguyen Thi Tuoi and Ha Thi Sen.

According to coach Pham Anh Tuan, they have invited Chinese coaches to train the team for a month before the Asian Games begin on November 12.

It will be the second time Vietnamese fencers have participated at the Asian Games.

Capital's sharpshooters hit the mark in championships

Ha Noi finished the National Shooting Championships, which closed on Sunday, with 22 gold, 19 silver and nine bronze medals.

The Army team bagged seven gold, 17 silver and five bronze medals to finish second, while Hai Phong came in third with seven gold, two silver and eight bronze medals.

The annual championship drew 180 shooters from 11 teams who competed for 24 medal sets. — VNS

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Lifter wins nation’s first gold at Youth Olympics

Weightlifter Thach Kim Tuan won the gold medal in the boys’ 56kg category as the first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore opened on Sunday.

The 16-year-old lifted a total of 256kg, handily beating Chinese silver medalist Xie Jiawu and Armenian bronze medalist Smbat Margaryan by 2kg with 13kg respectively.

Tuan came to Singapore with a lot of hopes pinned on him after he won gold at the Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championship in Dubai in December 2009.

At the Youth Olympic Games, Tuan faced stiff competition from his Chinese and Armenian rivals with the latter already a silver medal winner at the European Youth championship.

In the snatch category, Tuan lifted 116kg while Jiawu lifted 117kg and Margaryan lifted 108kg.

In the clean and jerk category, the Armenian lifted 135kg in his first attempt while Tuan and the Chinese contestant lifted 134kg and 132kg respectively.

Then, Jiawu lifted 137kg while Tuan and Margaryan failed with 139kg and 149kg respectively.

In the deciding round, Tuan succeeded in lifting 140kg, while Jiawu and Margaryan failed at 140kg and 149kg respectively.

On the opening day of the August 14-26 event, Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Hong finished fourth in the 48kg category for women with a total weight of 151kg.

Hong’s result was three kilos less than Venezuelan bronze winner Rodriguez, 12kg less than Thai silver winner and 39kg shy of the Chinese gold winner.

Vietnam’s further medal hopes are pinned on taekwondo artist Nguyen Thanh Thao.

Vietnam’s previous best results at the Olympic Games have been a silver medal won by taekwondo martial artist Tran Hieu Ngan at Sydney in 2000; and a weightlifting silver won by Hoang Anh Tuan at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

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