Malaysia win their first ASEAN Cup

Mohd Safee Sali of Malaysia (right) scores one goal in the AFF Suzuki Cup second leg final match in Jakarta. Malaysia win 4-2 on aggregate while Safee became the best score of the tournament with fifth goal. — AFP/VNA Photo

HA NOI — Malaysia beat Indonesia 4-2 on aggregate to win the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup for the first time in the country's history yesterday in Jakarta, Indonesia.

A loss of 1-2 to the hosts in the final's second leg match could not stop Malaysia from opening a new chapter in the history of the regional football tournament which up until now had been dominated by three-time winners Thailand and Singapore.

Mohd Safee Sali opened the scoring for Malaysia nine minutes after the break. Until then Indonesia had made things difficult for their opponents, attacking aggressively with a view to levelling the three-goal deficit they faced after the first leg match.

The talented player who scored twice in the semi-final against Viet Nam got his goal after he received a long-range pass and shot truly into the net.

The goal made him the top striker of the tournament with five goals to his name.

Indonesia, with their President watching on, found their equaliser in the 71th minute when defender Mohammad Nasuha scored from near the edge of the box.

His team doubled their tally 17 minutes later when Muhammad Ridwan scored his third goal at the tournament. His strong shot deflected off a Malaysian player before entering the net.

Malaysia are surprise winners of the tournament. At the previous championship two years ago they were ousted in the qualifying round.

This time they were placed in the ‘group of death' together with Thailand and Indonesia and after their humiliating 1-5 loss to hosts Indonesia in the group stage, no one gave them a chance.

The team only made it through to the knockout stage after Thailand, the most powerful team in Southeast Asia, were eliminated from the championship.

However, after that they had a complete reversal of form. First there was a great 2-0 victory over defending champion Viet Nam in the semi-final and then a 3-0 victory over Indonesia in the final's first leg on Sunday.

It has been be a very successful year for Malaysia with two important titles going to them in the last twelve months. Last December Malaysia defeated Viet Nam 1-0 to claim the Southeast Asian Games Cup.

Yesterdays' match did not help Indonesia's coach Alfred Riedl shake off his ‘Mr Silver' moniker. Once again, he pocketed a silver medal, just as he has done on every single occasion he has taken a team to a tournament final. The previous occasions were when he worked with Viet Nam several years back. — VNS

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RoK hands over restored music instruments

The National Institute of Traditional Art Performance of the Republic
of Korea (RoK) on Dec. 29 handed over a set of Bien Chung (brass
bells) and Bien Khanh (stone gongs) to the Hue Imperial Relics
Preservation Centre (HIRPC).

This is the result of
the cooperation between HIRPC and the RoK, under which the RoK institute
helps to restore Bien Chung and Bien Khanh, percussion instruments of
Nha Nhac (Royal Court Music), as the techniques for making them have
been lost in Vietnam since early the 20th century. However, the
instruments are sill preserved in the RoK.

According to HIRPC Director Phung Phu, Bien Chung and Bien Khanh
percussion instruments were used in Hue royal orchestra under the Le
dynasty (1427-1788) and Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945).

The instruments will be given to the Hue Royal Traditional Arts Theatre
to be used on the occasions of traditional rituals during Hue
festivals.

Park il Hun, Director of the RoK
institute, expressed his hope that through the cooperation the world
will know more about the two countries’ traditional music./.

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Domestic title winners ready for National Super Cup battle

Safe pair of hands: Ha Noi T&T's national team goalie Duong Hong Son will be a key player for the capital city team when they meet Song Lam Nghe An in the National Super Cup next Sunday. — VNS File Photo

HA NOI — Defending V-League champions Ha Noi T&T are ready for a tough season opener against Song Lam Nghe An in the Super Cup at the Hang Day Stadium next Sunday.

The Hanoian team, who won the premier league in June, will play their long-term rivals and National Cup winners Nghe An in a widely anticipated match before hosting Hoa Phat Ha Noi in the opening game of the national championships on January 22.

T&T boast a string of stars including goalie Duong Hong Son, the 2008 player of the year, and captain Brazilian Cristiano Roland as well as maestro Le Hong Minh and Brazil's Cauce Benicio along with attacking midfielder Cao Sy Cuong.

Top striker Le Cong Vinh has yet to recover from a knee injury, but the team welcomes the services of newly-signed left winger Thach Bao Khanh from Thanh Hoa and striker Iuril from Ukraine.

"We have kept our key players who helped the club clinch the first trophy for a Hanoian team in 12 years. I expect Vinh to be back in action soon," said the club chairman, Nguyen Quoc Hoi.

Team coach Phan Thanh Hung has been watching the 24-year-old Iuril at the on-going Hoa Phat Football tournament before he is due to sign a contract next month.

However, Nghe An are not likely to go down without a fight and are planning on giving Ha Noi T&T a run for their money having just finished an intensive month of pre-season training.

They pose a serious attacking threat with the combination of Raiko Vidovic, Abdulrazak Ekpoki and Mitrovic Dalibor up front.

Nghe An go into the game full of confidence after defeating two-time V-League champions Hoang Anh Gia Lai 1-0 in the National Cup final in August.

They also have the added incentive of winning the Super Cup for a fourth time.

Super Cup glory

The Super Cup winners will receive a VND150 million (US$7,000) cash prize, with the runners-up pocketing VND70 million ($3,300).

Former The Cong, or the Army team, won the first Super Cup in 1999. Nghe An took home the cup in 2000, 2001, and 2002. They were finally beaten by Hoang Anh-Gia Lai, who held the title for the next two years.

Binh Duong also grabbed the title twice.

This is the 12th year that the event will be organised by the Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper and the Viet Nam Football Federation. The 584 Group is the cup's sponsors. — VNS

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Swimmers excel, records fall

Going swimmingly: Da Nang-born swimmer Hoang Quy Phuoc set two new records at the National Sport Games, helping his team to second place in the swimming. — VNA/VNS Photo

HA NOI — The sixth National Sport Games saw 13 national swimming records set on Sunday on the second day of competition in the central city of Da Nang.

Among the record breakers was teenager Hoang Quy Phuoc, who smashed his own men's 100m record set at the National Swimming Championship last month by nearly two seconds with a time of 50.92sec. Phuoc was also part of the record breaking 4x200m freestyle team.

"These records will motivate me to try my best in training and compete for better results in the future," Phuoc said, with a smile.

Olympian Nguyen Huu Viet also broke his own record in the men's 50m breaststroke, with a time of 28.39sec, over half a second faster than the one he set three months ago.

Other records were set in the men's 200m breaststroke and 400m medley events.

On the women's side, Duong Thi Thom of Quang Ninh Province broke the 200m breaststroke record with a time of 2.21:22. Earlier, Quang Binh Province's Pham Thi Hue triumphed in the 50m breaststroke setting a new record of 32.46. HCM City-born Nguyen Thi Kim Tuyen, who was the youngest Vietnamese swimmer to compete at Guangzhou's Asian Games, marked her presence with a gold medal and a record in the 200m medley.

HCM City are leading the swimming medal tally with three gold, one silver and two bronze medals. Da Nang are in second position, having won two golds, two silvers and one bronze. Quang Binh are third with one gold, one silver and one bronze. — VNS

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Student wins online short film festival

Thinking of You by Vietnamese-American Vu Quang Huy has won the Golden
Heart prize for best film at YxineFF, Vietnam's first online short film
festival.

The chemical biology student from the University of California (UC) also
received prizes for best director and best cinematography at a ceremony
held at HCM City's BHD Cinema Star on Dec. 26.

American student of the UC, Christy Yang won the prize for best actor.

Huy's film, produced in 2009, is a vignette about a quirky flower-shop girl and the elusive "object" of her desire.

He is polishing the script for a movie version of the film he hopes to make in the next two years.

The five-minute version also won the Audience Award at Hidden Genius, a
short film competition sponsored by the Vietnamese-American Arts and
Letters Association.

It has been screened at various festivals like the Vietnamese International Film Festival and San Diego Film Festival.

At the YxineFF, animated film The Journey Unknown by Do Dang Thuong of
HCM City grabbed the best script and best film editing prizes.

The 4-minute-40-second film depicts the journey of an unnamed,
faceless character that jumps out of a book's page through the book that
takes it through heaven, destruction, urbanisation, and war.

Thuong said he actually created the character and background from
paper before resorting to stop motion, an animation technique.

The film is the 23-year-old's first production and was screened at the
Future Shorts Festival, which is organised by the global short film
community, held in Vietnam last year.

The organisers
of YxineFF, the Sai Gon Media Company and local film aficionados, gave
away the Red Heart prize for best film chosen by audiences to L.O.V.E by
Vu Ngoc Phuong, an overseas Vietnamese from the Philippines.

Up in the Tree, directed by Bui Quoc Thang of Hanoi, won the New Heart prize for the film with creative and new ideas.

All the award-wining films can be watched at the festival's website at www.yxineff.com.

The festival, which was launched in May, aims to broaden the
independent film-making community in Vietnam and offer local film-makers
an opportunity to promote their works worldwide.

It
showed 20 films in the Competition category for 10-minute films, 21
films in the Panorama category for 30-minute shorts made in the last
three years, and 12 films made by young directors in the In Focus
category./.

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Swimmers excel, records fall

Going swimmingly: Da Nang-born swimmer Hoang Quy Phuoc set two new records at the National Sport Games, helping his team to second place in the swimming. — VNA/VNS Photo

HA NOI — The sixth National Sport Games saw 13 national swimming records set on Sunday on the second day of competition in the central city of Da Nang.

Among the record breakers was teenager Hoang Quy Phuoc, who smashed his own men's 100m record set at the National Swimming Championship last month by nearly two seconds with a time of 50.92sec. Phuoc was also part of the record breaking 4x200m freestyle team.

"These records will motivate me to try my best in training and compete for better results in the future," Phuoc said, with a smile.

Olympian Nguyen Huu Viet also broke his own record in the men's 50m breaststroke, with a time of 28.39sec, over half a second faster than the one he set three months ago.

Other records were set in the men's 200m breaststroke and 400m medley events.

On the women's side, Duong Thi Thom of Quang Ninh Province broke the 200m breaststroke record with a time of 2.21:22. Earlier, Quang Binh Province's Pham Thi Hue triumphed in the 50m breaststroke setting a new record of 32.46. HCM City-born Nguyen Thi Kim Tuyen, who was the youngest Vietnamese swimmer to compete at Guangzhou's Asian Games, marked her presence with a gold medal and a record in the 200m medley.

HCM City are leading the swimming medal tally with three gold, one silver and two bronze medals. Da Nang are in second position, having won two golds, two silvers and one bronze. Quang Binh are third with one gold, one silver and one bronze. — VNS

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Ha Noi T&T meet Song Lam Nghe An in Super Cup

HA NOI – Defending V-League champions Ha Noi T&T are ready for a tough season opener against Song Lam Nghe An in the Super Cup at Hang Day Stadium next Sunday.

The Hanoian team, who won the premier league in June, will play their long-term rivals and National Cup winners Nghe An in a widely anticipated match before hosting Hoa Phat Ha Noi in the opening game of the national championships on January 22.

T&T boast a string of stars including goalie Duong Hong Son, the 2008 player of the year and captain Brazilian Cristiano Roland as well as maestro Le Hong Minh and Brazil's Cauce Benicio along with attacking midfielder Cao Sy Cuong.

Top striker Le Cong Vinh has yet to recover from a knee injury, but the team welcomes the services of newly-signed left winger Thach Bao Khanh from Thanh Hoa and striker Iuril from the Ukraine.

"We have kept our key players who helped the club clinch the first trophy for a Hanoian team in 12 years. I expect Vinh to be back in action soon," said the club chairman, Nguyen Quoc Hoi.

Team coach Phan Thanh Hung has been watching the 24-year-old Iuril at the on-going Hoa Phat Football tournament before he is due to sign a contract next month.

However, Nghe An are not likely to go down without a fight and are planning on giving Ha Noi T&T a run for their money having just finished an intensive month of pre-season training.

They pose a serious attacking threat with the combination of Raiko Vidovic, Abdulrazak Ekpoki and Mitrovic Dalibor up front.

Nghe An go into the game full of confidence after defeating two-time V-League champions Hoang Anh Gia Lai 1-0 in the National Cup final in August.

They also have the added incentive of winning the Super Cup for a fourth time.

Super Cup glory

The Super Cup winners will receive a VND150 million (US$7,000) cash prize, with the runners-up pocketing VND70 million ($3,300).

Former The Cong, or the Army team won the first Super Cup in 1999. Nghe An took home the cup in 2000, 2001, and 2002. They were finally beaten by Hoang Anh-Gia Lai, who held the title for the next two years.

Binh Duong also grabbed the title twice.

This is the 12th year that the event will be organised by the Tien Phong (Vanguard) Newspaper and the Viet Nam Football Federation. The 584 Group is the cup's sponsors. -- VNS

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