VietNam Culture

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Vietnam clinches two more silvers at Guangzhou ASIAD

Vietnam’s U-23 football team eliminated; women’s team suffer second loss

International grand master Le Quang Liem shows his silver medal at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China on Tuesday - Photo: TTXVN

HCMC – Vietnamese athletes took home two more silvers and four bronzes at the 16th Asian Games (ASIAD) in Guangzhou, China on Tuesday. With four silvers and seven bronzes on the fourth day of competition, Vietnam climbed to the 13th place on the ranking table.

Vietnamese wushu team continuously showed good performance when Nguyen Thanh Tung grasped the silver in the men’s taijiquan - taijijian all-round event.

Tung earned 8.67 points in the taijijian category on Tuesday morning and 9.65 points in the taijiquan category in the afternoon. The gold medal went to Wu Yanan of China, who secured 9.9 points each in the taijiquan and taijijian categories.

Nguyen Minh Thong brought home the bronze after losing 0-2 to Kim Tun Yul from South Korea in the semifinals of the men’s sanshou 60kg category and Vuong Dinh Khanh was defeated 1-2 by Cai Liangchan from Macao, China in the semifinals of the men’s sanshou 70kg category, gaining the bronze medal.

Wushu team now leads the Vietnamese delegation in medal tally, taking two silver and four bronze medals.

International grand master Le Quang Liem failed to grasp the gold medal in the men’s individual of the chess event though he had two final victories over Sasikiran Krishnan from India and Megaranto Susanto from Indonesia in rounds 8 and 9 on Tuesday.

Kasimdzhanov Rustam from Uzbekistan and Liem secured 7.5 points each but the Uzbekistan player gained the gold thanks to his win over the Vietnamese player in round 7 on Monday.

Vietnamese billiards players suffered unlucky when they lost to their opponents in the semifinals of the billiards event later Tuesday, clinching the bronze medals. Ly The Vinh just gained the bronze after losing 36-40 Suzuki Tsuyoshi from Japan in the men’s carom 3 cushion singles event.

Duong Anh Vu was defeated 29-40 by Kai Joji from Japan in the same category, taking the bronze while Luong Chi Dung also lost 4-9 to Dang Jinhu from China in the qualifying round of the men’s 9-ball pool singles.

Vietnamese women’s sepaktakaw team beat Japan 3-0 in the qualifying round on Tuesday while Vietnam lost 20-25, 16-25, 23-25 to India in the men’s volleyball event.

* Vietnam’s U-23 football team were ended their remarkable performance at the Asian Games after losing 0-2 to North Korea in the knock-out round on Tuesday. The loss means Vietnam surpassed its target set before ASIAD of reaching the last 16 round.

The North Korean players tested the Vietnamese defenders from the beginning but it wasn’t until the 34th minute that Choe Kum Chol opened for his team with a header.

Vietnam faced more difficulties in the 45th minute when midfielder Chu Ngoc Anh was sent off with a red card, however, the Vietnamese side suffered disadvantage again when Nguyen Van Hieu also received the second yellow card in the first minutes of the second half.

North Korea dominated possession in the second half and Choe Myong Ho finalized the game at 2-0 in the 90th minute with a penalty kick.

In the women’s football event, Vietnam were also eliminated from competition after suffering a 0-1 loss to powerhouse China in their second game on Tuesday.

Although the Chinese players had the most possession over the game and managed to create dozens of chances, the Vietnamese side defense resiliently held out to keep a clean sheet.

China took an advance in a controversial goal when the referee gave China a free kick in the penalty box in the last minutes. Qu Suansan made no mistake in her free kick, giving her team the second win in the group of the competition.

Earlier, Vietnam lost 1-6 to South Korea in the opener. Vietnam are now still at third place with no point in hand. Vietnam will face Jordan on Thursday in the final game in the group stage while South Korea and China, who reached the quarterfinals, will meet each together for the top position of the group.

Medals Standings (at 10:00 p.m. Vietnamese time)

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	77	28	28	133
2 South Korea	22	17	27	66
3 Japan	15	34	29	78
4 North Korea	3	6	9	18
5 Chinese Taipei	3	5	13	21
6 Hong Kong	3	5	3	11
7 Kazakhstan	2	5	9	16
8 Uzbekistan	2	5	6	13
9 India	1	4	7	12
10 Malaysia	1	1	3	5
13 Vietnam	0	4	7	11

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Giong festival wins UNESCO’s heritage title

UNESCO officially honoured Vietnam’s Giong festival as an Intangible
Cultural Heritage of Humanity at a meeting of its Inter-Governmental
Committee in Nairobi, Kenya, on November 16.

The Hanoi People’s
Committee reported that it is Hanoi’s third heritage honour presented by
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
(UNESCO) in 2010.

The other sites include 82 steles engraved
with names of doctorate holders for centuries in the Van Mieu-Quoc Tu
Giam, Vietnam’s first university, which have been recognised as
Documentary Heritage of the Memory of the World programme. The central
site of the Thang Long Royal Citadel has won the title “World Cultural
Heritage”.

The Giong festival is held annually in several parts
of northern Vietnam, most typically in the Phu Dong and Soc Temples in
Hanoi, to commemorate Saint Giong, one of the immortal quartets in the
Vietnamese legends.

Legend has it that under the sixth King
Hung’s reign (around 500 BC) Vietnam was threatened by the Kingdom of
Yin, to the north of Vietnam.

A little boy, who was unable to
crawl, roll over and say a single word at the age of three, had
surprisingly grown up to a giant man in just several days after getting
news on the foreign invasion. He used local bushes of bamboo to defeat
aggressors and flew into the sky with his iron horse after the final
victory.

In order to show their gratitude to the hero of Giong village, people proclaimed him Saint Giong.

The
festival meets all qualifications for an intangible cultural heritage
of humanity as it has been conserved by the community as part of the
national cultural identity, handed down from generations to generations,
holds creativeness of humanity and represents aspiration for prosperity
by every family and peace for the nation and the world.

The
Giong festival was among 46 candidates from 29 nations that UNESCO
recognised as intangible cultural heritage in 2010 after considering 113
dossiers submitted by 32 member nations./.

Two more silvers for Vietnam at ASIAD 16

Vietnam’s sports delegation won two more silvers and four bronzes on
Nov. 16, bringing the total number of medals to four silvers and seven
bronzes after four days of competition at the 16th Asian Games (ASIAD
16) in Guangzhou, China.

One silver medal was earned by international chess grand master Le Quang Liem at the men’s individual event.

Liem
pocketed 7.5 points after nine games, levelling with eventual
gold-medal winner Kasimdzhanov Rustam of Uzbekistan. Liem lost out as he
had been defeated by Rustam in their match on Nov. 16.

Wushu
martial artist Nguyen Thanh Tung took another silver with a combined
performance of taijijan and taijiquan that earned him 18.32 points,
finishing second behind his powerful Chinese rival.

Vietnamese
wushu sanshou artists Vuong Dinh Khanh and Nguyen Minh Thong carried off
two bronzes after being defeated by their Chinese and RoK rivals in the
men’s 70kg and 60kg category, respectively.

Two other bronzes were taken by Ly The Vinh and Duong Anh Vu in the men’s three-cushion billiards individual event./.

Grandmaster wins silver in Asian Games chess debut

Checkmate: IGM Le Quang Liem wins a silver in the men's individual event for Viet Nam in Guangzhou. — VNA/VNS Photo

HA NOI — International grand master Le Quang Liem won a silver medal of the Asian Games' men's individual yesterday in Guangzhou.

Liem pocketed 7.5 points after nine games, level with eventual gold-medal winner Kasimdzhanov Rustam of Uzbekistan. Liem lost out as he had been defeated by Rustam in their match on Monday.

It is the first time chess is an official sport of ASIAD.

Wushu martial artist Nguyen Thanh Tung bagged a silver - the third for at the Games yesterday.

Tung scored 18.32 points with a combined performance of taijijan and taijiquan, finishing second behind his powerful Chinese rival.

Tung said he couldn't believe he had actually won the silver until he was standing on the podium.

"It is the first time I have taken part in such a big tournament," said Tung.

"As a freshman here, I am not thinking of winning a medal. I told myself that it is not a competition but a performance and all the other people are spectators who are admiring it."

Head coach Nguyen Phuong Lan said the silver medal was a big surprise, as he was only 18 years old and defeated much more experienced rivals.

"But in taolu (performance), athletes' nerves are very important," said the coach. "Tung is inexperienced but he can deal with pressure. He feels free to perform and he succeeds."

Vietnamese wushu sanshou athletes are expected to win a gold medal today as three have booked berths in the final matches.

Nguyen Thi Bich who defeated Iran's Mansoryansamiroumi Elaheh 9-1 in the women's 52kg category yesterday will fight against host E Meidie.

Her male teammates Phan Van Hau will compete China's Li Xinjie in the 56kg class while Nguyen Van Tuan will play Zhang Junyong, another Chinese, in the 65kg pool.

The nine-man Viet Nam Olympic football team, that qualified for the second round in their first appearance at the Asian Games, lost to a powerful North Korea 2-0 in the knock-out round at Yuexiu Stadium.

Later, Viet Nam's women footballers lost to China 0-1 in the last minutes during the premilinary round.

It was the second defeat for the Southeast Asian Games champions, who are set to play Jordan in the last group round match tomorrow. — VNS

Vietnam beats Bahrain in Asian Games opener

Vietnam beats Bahrain in Asian Games opener Vietnam’s Under-23 squad scored a 3-1 upset against Baharain in their Group B opener at the 16th Asian Games at Guangdong People’s Stadium, on Monday.

The Vietnamese youths scored one goal in the first half and another two goals in the second before Bahrain pulled one back in the final minutes.

Before the event began, coach Phan Thanh Hung and the Vietnamese U23s said they believed they could advance to the second round.

The impressive win over Bahrain certainly made for a good start.

The two top squads, in each of the tournament’s six groups will advance to the second round along with the four third-place teams with the best results.

The Vietnamese U23s will clash with Turkmenistan in their next game on Wednesday before facing off against Iran on Friday.

In the other Group B match on Monday, Iran thrashed Turkmenistan 4-1 to come out on top of the group.

In Group A, Malaysia defeated Kyrgyzstan 2-1 while hosts China lost 0-3 to Japan.

In Group C, North Korea beat South Korea 1-0 while Palestine and Jordan fought to a scoreless tie.

On Sunday, Kuwait beat India 2-0 while Qatar drew 0-0 with Singapore in Group D; and in Group E, Uzbekistan hammered Bangladesh 3-0. The U.A.E drew 1-1 with Hong Kong.

In Group F, Oman defeated Maldives 3-0 while Thailand crushed Pakistan 6-0 with Thong Lao and Teerasil Dangda each scoring a double.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010