Vietnam wins women’s beach volleyball in Vung Tau

Vietnamese pair Mai Thi Hoa and Nguyen Thi Tiep receive the trophy at the Ocean Park in the southern coast city of Vung Tau on Sunday - Photo: Thanh Long

HCMC – The Vietnamese team won the International Women’s Beach Volleyball Tournament or Tanimex Cup 2010, which concluded on Sunday at Ocean Park in the southern coast city of Vung Tau.

The Vietnam 3 team beat Taiwan 2-0 in a surprise victory in the finals though the visitors, who are currently one of the top pairs in Asia, were tipped as the strongest contenders for the title. 

Vietnam 3 made of Mai Thi Hoa and Nguyen Thi Tiep beat Kou Nai Han and Chang Hui Min 21-17 in the first set. Then the home side continuously dominated the second set, 23-21.

Hoa and Tiep went into Sunday’s decider with a 2-1 win over their compatriots Phan Thi Cam Hong and Do Thi Hong Loan from Vietnam 2 in the semifinal game, 19-21, 21-16, 15-13.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese pair Han and Min triumphed over Nguyen Thi Mai and Truong Thi Yen from Vietnam 1, 27-25, 21-16 in the other semifinal the same day.

The champion Vietnam 3 pocketed US$2,200, second placed Taiwan received US$1,700. Mai and Yen from Vietnam 1 overcame Hong and Loan from Vietnam 2 2-1 in the third place competition, getting US$1,400.

The organizing board also presented the Miss Title prize worth US$500 to Wanthana Hengsana from Thailand 2.

About 11 teams from Hong Kong, Thailand, Kazakhstan, China, Taiwan, Laos and Vietnam competed in the Cup from Friday to Sunday. 

Vung Tau City also hosted the International Women’s Beach Volleyball Tournament last year. Thailand dominated with first and second while Vietnam got seventh.

The event was co-organized by the Ba Ria-Vung Tau provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Tourism company, the Vietnam Volleyball Federation, the Asian Volleyball Confederation and the Tan Binh Commercial Service Import Export company (Tanimex).

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Stars to Heineken Tennis contest changed

Three of the four world-famous participants in the third Heineken Stars contest in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday and Saturday have withdrawn due to injury.

The organizers said, on Monday, that they would be replaced with players at higher rankings in the world.

Only the 21^st-ranked American player Sam Querrey remains unchanged. The other three stars 29th-ranked Argentine David Nalbandian, 113^th-ranked American Robby Ginepri and 251^st-ranked German Tommy Haas will not come.

The organizers have filled the vacancies with the 19^th-ranked American Mardi Fish, 42^nd-ranked Spaniard Tommy Robredo and 35^th-ranked Argentine Juan Monaco.

Argentine Nalbandian suffered an injury when he and his national teammates clashed (unsuccessfully) with French players in the semi-finals of the Davis Cup earlier this month.

The American player Ginepri suffered an elbow injury during a recent training session in the U.S while Haas can’t come due to a shoulder injury, according to the organizers.

The biennial contest’s first edition in 2006 attracted Carlos Moya, Nicolas Kiefer, Rainer Schuettler and Juan Carlos Ferrero. The championship was won by Germany’s Schuettler, currently ranked 90^th.

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Vietnam’s U23 squad wins Thang Long Cup

Vietnam’s U23 team did themselves proud by winning the Thang Long Cup in Ho Chi Minh City, beating their stronger counterparts from Iran at the Thong Nhat Stadium on Saturday.

Facing a superior rival, the Vietnamese team resorted to making smart plays and keeping a close guard on their rivals, making it very hard for the Persian Gulf visitors to launch attacks.

Not allowed to implement their strategies, the Iranians found both attack and defense difficult, making it possible for the hosts to control the match.

Playmaker Thanh Hung worked as a good link between the Vietnamese defenders and attackers, helping the team maintain better possession of the ball.

Right after the break, Vietnam took the lead with striker Anh Duc heading home a Duc Thien corner kick.

But Anh Duc made things difficult for his team, leaving the field with a red card after an attack on Iran’s Moosavi Ivan.

Coach Phan Thanh Hung immediately replaced Thanh Trung with striker Dinh Tung to facilitate fast counter attacks.

With midfielders moving closer to the home goal to better support the defenders, and the latter positioning themselves very well, the team was able to stand firm against pressure from the Iranians.

In a rapid counterattack towards the end of the match, substitute Dinh Tung slid the ball between goalkeeper Sadeghi’s legs to double the score. The 15,000-strong audience exploded into applause.

Coach Hung said after the game, “The win over Iran was very significant for us. It will help the players gain confidence before the coming Asian Games.”

The win, together with a scoreless draw with Singapore on Thursday and a 2-1 win over Malaysians, earned the Vietnamese the Thang Long Cup in HCMC along with the tournament’s US$20,000 cash prize.

 In addition, the team was awarded a VND200 million ($10,000) bonus by the Vietnam Football Federation and another VND100 million by the HCMC Football Federation.

The Thang Long Cup contest in Ho Chi Minh City was organized to celebrate Thang Long-Hanoi’s 1,000^th anniversary.

A Hanoi edition of the tournament was held in the capital city from September 20-24. This was won by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and Vietnam’s national team came in second.

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Vietnamese urban culture interests Russia

The State Museum of Oriental Arts of Russia on October 5 held a
seminar focusing on traditional and modern features in Vietnamese urban
culture on the occasion of the 1,000 anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.

At the seminar, Le Thanh Van, political counsellor of the Vietnamese
Embassy, delivered a speech on several aspects of cultural cooperation
between Vietnam and Russia , underlining the significance of the
cooperation between the two countries and their museums.

The seminar was well oriented, matching benefits of the two nations’
people in expanding and boosting traditional friendship and strategic
partnership between the two countries, Van said.

He
pointed out three measures to strengthen bilateral ties in culture:
increasing the exchange of delegations and cultural experts; organising
art, cultural exhibitions and seminars; and encouraging students to
research culture in each country.

Ten speeches were
presented by Russian experts from the State Museum of Oriental Arts,
the Institute of Oriental Studies , and the Institute of
Asian-African Studies , focused on the development of Vietnamese
contemporary culture, Dong Son civilisation, Vietnam ’s city
architecture and Southeast Asian culture.

Notably,
first proofs on the construction of the One-Pillar Pagoda, languages in
advertising boards in Hanoi and the capital city’s culture during
1964-1965 were discussed at the seminar.

Advertising
is a strong element of culture, said Irina Samarina, a lecturer of the
Russian State University for the Humanities and an expert of the
Language Institute under the Russian Academy of Science, who showed
images and advertising language she collected in Hanoi to express
her love for the city./.

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Arts in spotlight as youth mark millennium

Young people will hold many activities from art performances to
exhibitions and street festivals across the country on Oct. 8 to
celebrate the 1,000 th birthday of Hanoi.

At a press
briefing in Hanoi on Oct.5, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union
Central Committee said celebrations will start in Hanoi with an incense
offering ceremony at the King Ly Thai To statue in Hanoi and an art
performance of 3,500 children and young people of Hanoi and 65 young
foreigners around the Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi.

The programme will
continue with a performance of drums and clarinets as well as singing
and dancing at the same time in Hanoi , the central city of Da Nang
and Ho Chi Minh City .

Also in the morning of the day 1,000
children will draw paintings following the theme “I love Hanoi ” around
the Hoan Kiem Lake , while performances of songs and dances will
take place at universities, colleges and senior high-schools
nationwide.

As part of the programme, an exhibition of photos and
objects will be held around Thien Quang lake in Hanoi . Over 600
photos, documents and objects will be displayed under the theme of
“Vietnamese Youth – proud of 1,000 years of Thang Long-Hanoi and
National Construction”.

A three-day festival of young people of
ASEAN+3 (ASEAN countries and China , Japan and the Republic of
Korea ) will be held from Oct. 6. Participants of the festival plan to
take this occasion to boost exchanges and establish cooperation in many
fields.

Young people from the northern province of Bac Ninh
will bring a collage painting, the largest of its kind in Vietnam ,
to the festival.

In the evening of Oct. 8, a street festival will be held with singing, dancing and a parade around the centre of Hanoi .

On
Oct. 5, an exhibition of Bat Trang ceramic craft village of Hanoi
opened to celebrate Hanoi birthday. Also on display at the
exhibition are products from other traditional ceramic craft villages in
the country.

In the same vein, an artistic photo festival of 15
northern mountainous provinces also opened on Oct. 5 in Dien Bien Phu
city, Dien Bien province.

Exhibits are 205 photos selected from
1,219 entries to the festival, capturing the beauty of nature, the
people and their daily lives. Of these photos, 24 were awarded with
prizes.

Also, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and the northern
province of Thai Binh jointly opened an exhibition of 120 photos of
Hanoi and Thai Binh./.

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Saint Giong statue recognised during millennium

A 14.2m statue of the mythical saviour of the nation, Saint Giong, was
inaugurated on Oct. 5 on top of Da Chong Mountain in Soc Son suburban
district of Hanoi.

The 85-tonne copper statue
of the saint holding a grove of bamboo in his hand while flying off into
the sky on his horse is a cultural project commissioned to celebrate
the 1,000 th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.

At the inauguration ceremony, State President Nguyen Minh Triet
confirmed the great contributions of Saint Giong to the history of the
national defence and laid stress on the cultural significance of the
project to the 1,000 th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.

The construction of the statue was intended to express great
gratitude to the ancestor, he said, adding that the statue would be an
image to encourage people in study and work to contribute to national
construction and defence.

Legend has it that Giong was born after his mother stepped into the footprints of a giant.

At the age of three, when invaders attacked the country, Giong
suddenly grew into a giant himself. Giong wielded an enormous iron rod
and an entire grove of bamboo to chase the invaders out of the country
on the back of an iron horse presented to him by the king.

Following the enemy’s flight, Giong and his horse took off into the sky
from Soc Mountain , never to be seen again.

He was worshipped as one of the nation’s four immortal saints./.

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Director recognises Ha Long Bay’s potential

The Director of New7Wonders Foundation, Jean-Paul De La Fuente, has
called on Vietnam to launch a national campaign to promote Ha Long Bay’s
image and attempt to gain the title of a New7Wonders attraction.

Jean-Paul made the statement in an interview with The Thao & Van
Hoa (Sports & Culture) newspaper after concluding a working session
with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on October 4.

He said the publicity campaign was necessary in the final rounds of
the competition to increase public awareness of the election, which
should involve the Government.

Brazil’s President took
part in voting for its key natural attraction as it was part of the
national pride and honour, said the chief of the world body evaluating
new world wonders.

He said he understood that at this
point, all Vietnamese considered Ha Long bay as the biggest wonder of
the nation, which he said needs massive promotion and election campaigns
to promote its image.

Jean-Paul advised Vietnam to
avoid routines in campaigning while creating special initiatives to
attract public attention, especially the young generation, to vote.

He said pictures of the site were not convincing enough as his body
had received numerous beautiful pictures from 28 candidates around the
world.

These pictures should be accompanied with strong messages, he emphasised.

Colourful figures should be invited to pose in the scene and take part
in voting and messages on Ha Long Bay should be conveyed to
international tourists, Paul advised.

The voting in the final round will be expanded to telephone calls and messaging, in addition to the internet.

He said he expected the Vietnamese people would bring their national
spirit, which he saw with his own eyes in the Thang Long-Hanoi
millennium anniversary, to the Ha Long Bay campaign.

The competition will not be decided by a group of people but by a majority in the world, Jean-Paul emphasised./.

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