Grand masters to battle in France

Two International Grand Masters (IGM) Le Quang Liem and Nguyen Ngoc
Truong Son will compete in the Cap D'Agde Rapid Chess tournament in
France from October 23-31.

The two top Vietnamese
grand masters will test their skills against formidable opponents,
including Russian giant Anatoly Karpov, Vasily Ivanchuk from Ukraine, Bu
Xiangzhi from China and Judith Polgar from Hungary.

Liem and Son will use the event as a warm up for the Asian Games in Guangzhou , China next month.

Liem, 19, has been in top form since finishing second at the
Sparkassen Chess Meeting that was held in Dortmund , Germany in
July.

He also won the Moscow Open in February.

Last year, the HCM City-born player broke into the world's top 20 FIDE
rankings, and was the only Vietnamese player to make the list of
leading male chess masters.

However, Son and Liem performed poorly at the Chess Olympiad last month.

Son, who became a Grand Master in March 1997 when he was 14 years old,
will face China 's Bu Xiangzhi, an arch rival, in the Cap D'Agde
tourney.

The match will be held next Friday.

After the tournament, the two top players will have a 10-day break before flying to Guangzhou for the Asian Games./.

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Temple restoration wins prize

A project to restore a 17th century temple on the outskirts of Ha Noi,
which was carried out by architect Le Thanh Vinh, won the highest prize
in the heritage preservation category at the International Union of
Architects event in Xi'an, China.

This is the first time Vietnamese architects have won an international architecture prize for restoration work.

The project beat out 33 entries from 14 countries in the Asia Pacific region.

Chu Quyen Temple , which is commonly known as Chang Temple ,
in Hanoi 's Ba Vi district was primarily built with wood by the end
of 17th century.

The temple was recognised as a
national historic heritage site in 1962. Restoration on the temple began
in 2005 and was completed earlier this year.

Various modern techniques were used to remove mould from the wooden pillars, Vinh said.

"While overseeing the restoration work, I noticed that we didn't have
enough professional restorers," said Vinh. "We cannot restore a relic in
a rush without taking the proper precautions. There are only a few
experts who can handle such a task."

Vinh said the
country needs to begin training more restoration workers, who are
experts in architecture, construction, culture and history.

Deputy Minister of Culture Tran Chien Thang said that the project
should serve as the standard that later restoration projects should
emulate./.

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Hanoi hosts seminar on Italian language

Advantages and prospects for Italian speakers as well as experience in
learning the language were discussed at a seminar in Hanoi on Oct.
14.

The seminar, the highlight of the Italian Language Week in
Vietnam , drew the participations of the ambassadors of Argentina ,
Pakistan , Switzerland and Venezuela , the director of the Goethe
Institute and a number of Vietnamese students.

Writer Mario
Fortunato, former director of the Italian Institute of Culture in
London , said that the first heritage of the nation is its language and
Italian is the language of a nation rich of cultural heritages.

Italian is also the language of cuisine, arts, fashion, architecture and
design and renovation, said Italian Ambassador to Vietnam Andrea
Perugini.

The Vietnamese translation of a masterpiece of Italian literature “If this is a man” was launched on this occasion.

The autobiographical book was written by Italian writer and chemist
Primo Levi, who based the book on his own experiences in a Nazi
concentration camp during World War II./.

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V-League draws record crowds

The V-League last season sold a record number of tickets to matches, with matches attracting an average of 8,297 punters, the Viet Nam Football Federation's general secretary Tran Quoc Tuan said in a meeting yesterday.

The federation also praised the coaching of Phan Thanh Hung of Ha Noi T&T, who helped the Hanoian team win the premier league after a 12-year-wait.

Two-time champion Binh Duong, who were the top-scoring team with 48 goals, won the fair play award for the year.

The First Division's Ha Noi ACB were promoted to the V-League, while Nam Dinh were relegated after a poor season.

Argentine Gaston Merlo finished as top scorer, netting 19 times in 26 matches for Da Nang.

In the V-League games last season, there were 820 yellow and 44 red cards handed out.

Women's team face tough draw

Viet Nam's women's team have been drawn in Group A with Indonesia and Japan in the team sepak takraw event (rattan ball kicking) at the Asian Games next month.

In Group B, powerful Thailand will play against India, South Korea and China.

In the regu (squad of three) event, Viet Nam, China, Myanmar and Thailand will compete in a round robin format for the gold medal.

According to team coach Ha Tung Lap, Viet Nam will have a tough job defending the title they won in Doha four years ago.

The team is made up of Luu Thi Thanh, 29, Trinh Thu Ba and Nguyen Bich Thuy, who helped the team win two gold medals at previous games.

HCM City to host aerobics tourney

HCM City will host the Asian Sports Aerobic Championships from December 16-18, the national sports administration said.

The organisers said that 10 teams from China, Japan, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Mongolia and the Philippines have registered to compete at the event.

Competitors will compete in the men's and women's singles, pairs, trios and groups of six.

Men's volleyballers debut at games

Viet Nam's men's volleyball team will compete for the first time at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China next month, the Viet Nam Volleyball Federation confirmed yesterday.

The 12-member squad will play in Group B with South Korea, Kazakhstan and India.

The team bagged a bronze medal at the Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines in 2005 and a silver in Thailand in 2007.

Nghe An to build football academy

Song Lam Nghe An Football Club is planning to build a 1,000-ha youth academy, a team source said yesterday.

The team have sought co-operation with an English Premier League broker for future development.

According to general director of Song Lam Nghe An football stock company, Nguyen Hong Thanh, the broker will make a survey next month before a contract is signed.

Three years ago, Hoang Anh Gia Lai also constructed a football academy, Hoang Anh Gia Lai-JMG-Arsenal, with the co-operation of the Premier League's Arsenal. — VNS

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Vietnam eyes more Asian Games gold

HCMC - Vietnam hopes to improve on its performance at the 16th Asian Games (ASIAD) in Guangzhou, China, by winning between four and six gold medals to finish in the top 15 out of 45 participating countries and territories.

The Vietnamese sporting delegation, which finished 19th at the 2006 Games in Doha with three gold, 13 silver and seven bronze medals, aims to win multiple golds in shooting, sepak takraw, karate, taekwondo, chess and Chinese chess in November.

Vietnam wants gold in Chinese chess and taekwondo events. Chinese-chess player Ngo Lan Huong, who was the 2009 world runner-up, is eyeing top spot while Nguyen Dinh Toan and Nguyen Minh Tu are capable of victory in taekwondo.

Toan and Tu are definite contenders after securing a gold medal in the pairs event in the performance category at the World Taekwondo Federation Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan last week. Nguyen Thi Thu Ngan, Nguyen Thi Le Kim and Chau Van Tuyet brought home the second gold medal from Uzbekistan in the women’s first team division.

Vietnam is expected to do well in the track and field events with several gold possibilities - sprinter Vu Thi Huong (women’s 100m and 200m), Asian Grand Prix winner Truong Thanh Hang (women’s 800m and 1,500m), Southeast Asian Games record holder Vu Van Huyen (men’s decathlon) and two-times Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Nguyen Dinh Cuong (men’s 800m and 1,500m).

Around 260 local athletes will participate in Asia’s biggest sporting event, Nov.12-27. The team for the games will compete in 29 of the 42 events.

Meanwhile, local football fans didn’t trust their squad’s ability to get past the group stages after both men and women teams had unlucky draws.

The men’s U23 team drew Group B along with three of Western Asia’s strongest teams: Iran, Bahrain and Turkmenistan while the women’s team drew Group A with hosts China, South Korea and Jordan, possibly the three strongest teams in Asia.

The men’s group matches will be played from November 7 to 25, while the women will play November 14-23.

This ASIAD will have 476 events in 42 sports, making it the largest event in history of the Games. ASIAD is a multi-sport event held every four years with teams from all over Asia

Vietnam began participating in Asia’s biggest sport event at the Seoul games in 1986. In 1994 at the Hiroshima Asian Games in Japan, taekwondo artist Tran Quang Ha won the country’s first gold medal, while Pham Hong Ha and Tran Van Thong brought home two silver medals.

At the 14th Asian Games in Busan, South Korea in 2002, the country had their best showing after winning four gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals. Vietnam finish 15th at the event.

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Team set to peak for Asian Games

The Vietnamese gymnastics team has vowed to bring home their first medal from the Asian Games.

"It will be a challenge for us at Asia 's biggest games, but I do
believe that all athletes will make something happen like they did at
the World Cup event," said head of the National Sports Administration's
gymnastics division Nguyen Kim Lan.

Top gymnasts Phan Thi
Ha Thanh and Pham Phuoc Hung will lead their team as they attempt to
bring home a gold medal at the Asian Games in China next month.

The duo performed well at the Artistic Gymnastics FIG World Cup in Porto , Portugal in June.

Thanh pocketed a silver medal in the women's individual vault event.

The Southeast Asian Games champion finished seventh out of 19 in the floor event and seventh in the balanced beam competition.

"It's the best result a Vietnamese gymnast has achieved at an
international competition since the country first competed at the Moscow
Olympics in 1980," said Lan.

Pham Phuoc Hung achieved a personal best when he finished fourth in the men's individual parallel bars event at the World Cup.

The Hanoian qualified for the parallel bars final round at the World
Artistic Gymnastics Championship in London last October.

Hung, who has been training in China since 1998, and his male
teammates will compete at the international event in the Netherlands ,
which runs through next week.

The team will also receive help from Do Thi Ngan Thuong, who is eligible to compete in the women's all-around event.

The Beijing Olympian said she will do her best at the Guangzhou Games to win a medal that she can add to her collection./.

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‘Visual diary' salutes Hanoi

As Hanoi approached its 1,000th anniversary, painter Nguyen Cam
travelled from Paris to celebrate this momentous historic
celebration of passing time with an exhibition at Art Vietnam Gallery.

All of the pieces Cam has included in the Traces of Memory exhibition are mixed media on canvas created using dark colours.

Calligraphic musings and bits of jute, votive papers, ginkgo leaves,
tea bags, and other distinctly Vietnamese elements are scattered over
fractured landscapes to give the impression of a visual diary.

All of the materials he used to create his paintings are symbolic, he
says. Ginkgo was the first tree to grow in Hiroshima after the bomb.
The plant inspires Cam as a symbol of power, vitality and eternity,
while tea bags express the changes of time.

"Everyday I
drink tea, in a silent and thoughtful space. I realised that the colours
and textures of the tea are never the same. I see it as similar to our
daily lives: each day is different," he says.

The artist
left the country for France when he was very young and he returns
with the solemn, wizened perspective of a man whose life has been pushed
and pulled, torn and mended.

"As Cam approaches the
autumn of his life, having escaped a near brush with death, a heightened
intensity and awareness of the preciousness of each and every moment is
ever present," says Suzanne Lecht, director of Art Vietnam Gallery, the
painter's close friend.

Ever mindful of the beauty of
movement, the artist methodically pursues his future, honours his past,
reveres the present, and exposes injuries accumulated along the way, she
says.

"I feel an intensified freedom when I return to
Vietnam , the country of my childhood and birth," Cam says. "Certainly
returning home, that physical place which creates the landscape and
language of our spiritual home, is life giving. It inspires me to delve
into the deep recesses of the mind and heart where a solace that helps
to face life's vagaries might be found."

The exhibition will run until November 5 at Art Vietnam Galley, 7 Nguyen Khac Nhu Street , Hanoi./.