Faldo Series nurtures aspiring golfers
The Faldo Series Vietnam Championship for young golfers will be held at the Laguna Lang Co Golf Club in Thua Thien-Hue Province from July 27-28.
Vietnamese golfers aged 12 to 21 will compete over 36 holes at the newly open golf course. With the field divided into age groups – two for boys and two for girls – the four winners will qualify to join Nick Faldo for the eighth Asia Grand Final at Mission Hills Golf Club in China next March.
Vietnamese golfers born in 1992 or later who wish to enter the tournament should email info@vga.com.vn or visit www.vga.com.vn.
The Faldo Series tournaments take place in 30 countries worldwide with more than 7,000 golfers participating each year.
Arsenal to bring strongest formation to Vietnam
Arsenal has recently sent the list of its 69 football players to come to Vietnam in July, among them are its strongest players as committed.
Particularly, Arsenal will bring three goalkeepers, consisting of Lukasz Fabianski, Vito Manoe, and Wojciech Szcsezny; defenders, including of Thomas Vermaelen, Bacary Sagna, Peter Mertesacker, and Squillaci Sebastien, Koscielny Laurent; and midfielders, including of Diaby, Wilshere, Arshavin, Mikel Arteta, Ramsey, Rosicky, and Cazorla.
According to the plan, the team will arrive at Hanoi City on July 15. On the same day, Coach Wenger and some players will attend a press conference to introduce about the match against the Vietnamese national team in the afternoon. In the evening, Coach Wenger will have a meeting with people who care about soccer in Vietnam.
On July 17, the match between Arsenal and Vietnam team will take place at My Dinh National Stadium at 7pm.
Minh targets success at this year’s US Open
Nguyen Tien Minh will compete in the US Open badminton tournament at the Orange County Badminton Club, California from July 8-13.
The tournament is part of the Grand Prix Gold system with US$120,000 in prize money.
Last year, Vietnamese players did not compete, but Minh was a finalist in the 2011 edition.
Nation to compete in AYG handball contest
Viet Nam are one of only 16 teams to take part in the men’s handball event at the Asian Youth Games in Nanjing, China this August.
Viet Nam are in Group A together with Qatar, Iran and Pakistan.
Group B consists of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Mongolia and China.
Bahrain, Kuwait, Chinese Taipei and Thailand are in Group C and South Korea, Syria, Hong Kong and Kazakhstan are listed in Group D.
As there are only six women’s teams, they are playing in a round robin format.
The match schedules for the handball event will be released at a later date.
Football champs for youths kicks off in HCM City
The National Under-17 Football Championships will kick off on July 3 at HCM City’s Thong Nhat Stadium.
Eight teams that advanced from the nationwide qualifying rounds will be divided into two groups. Group A includes Ha Noi, Dong Thap, Hoang Anh Gia Lai and hosts PVF HCM City. Group B consists of Viettel, Long An, SHB Da Nang and defending champions Song Lam Nghe An.
The top two teams from each group will progress to the semi-finals. The final is scheduled for July 12.
The winners will walk away with VND100 million (US$4,700), and other prizes will be awarded for best player, goalkeeper and striker.
Viet Nam win four gold in Asian chess
Viet Nam has finished with four gold medals in the Iran Asian Youth Chess Championships which ended yesterday (June 27).
Le Tuan Minh took his title in the boys’ under-18 category, Nguyen Le Cam Hien won the girls’ U6 class, both in blitz chess.
It was Minh’s second title. Earlier he triumphed in the rapid event.
The fourth gold went to Tran Tuan Minh in the boys’ U16 rapid chess.
Apart from golds, Viet Nam also pocketed seven silver and four bronze medals.
Iran defeats Vietnam at Asian Futsal Champs
The Vietnamese Women’s Futsal team lost 0-1 in its June 28 match against Iran at the fourth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG).
Their Iranian opponents seized their opportunity in the 15th minute, scoring the only goal of the match. Vietnam tried its best to reply but their efforts were to no avail.
The loss to Iran limits the Vietnamese team’s chance of advancing to the tournament’s semi-finals. Their future rests on either Malaysia or Hong Kong (China)-both rivals in Group A-defeating Thailand on June 30.
Vietnam’s men’s futsal team, under the guidance of coach Sergio Gargelli, will begin their AIMAG campaign at 8pm on June 28.
Nghe An eye end to winless streak
Song Lam Nghe An (SLNA) stand a good chance of ending their winning drought as they take on bottom-ranked team Dong Tam Long An on home ground this weekend.
SLNA have been experiencing the worst period of the season as they have not won in six games and have had only three draws. They fell from first place to third place with 22 points.
A win is necessary for coach Nguyen Huu Thang and his players at the moment to boost confidence among the team and to keep pace with SHB Da Nang and Ha Noi TT, which have played one game less than SLNA.
The mission does not look impossible as their opponent is also not doing any better, winning only one game to rank at the bottom with only 11 points.
All attention this weekend, however, will be given to the game of the round, when last year’s runner-up Ha Noi TT hosts defending champion Da Nang at Ha Noi’s Hang Day stadium tomorrow.
Both teams are in good form. While leaders Ha Noi TT won four and drew one in five latest games, second-placed Da Nang also secured three wins and two draws.
The match is important for both teams as the winner will take over the top place and gain a considerable advantage for the title race.
Despite playing at home without midfielder Cao Sy Cuong and defender Bui Van Hieu, Ha Noi TT are looking likely to get their revenge for the 1-0 defeat by Da Nang in the first half of the season.
Hoang Anh Gia Lai, Thanh Hoa, Xuan Thanh Sai Gon and The Vissai Ninh Binh are tipped to have difficult trips.
Hoang Anh Gia Lai will travel to Rach Gia stadium to face Kien Giang while Thanh Hoa face home team Hai Phong at Lach Tray stadium.
Xuan Thanh Sai Gon will take a trip to Dong Nai to seek its fourth win in five games to return to the title race, while Binh Duong are favourites over Ninh Binh at Go Dau stadium.
Badminton player Minh returns to 9th place in world rankings
Vietnamese badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh has climbed one notch in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) Men’s Singles rankings, reclaiming 9th place.
The quick rebound is mainly due to his impressive performance at the 2013 Singapore Badminton Open semi-finals that earned him 51,411 points.
Indonesian Tommy Sugiato, who defeated Minh in Singapore, jumped six places to 7 th while compatriot Sony Dwi Kuncoro fell three places to 10 th .
Without attending the Singapore competition, Malaysian Lee Chong Wei remained on top of the rankings, followed by China’s Chen Long and Du Pengyu, Thailand’s Ponsana, and Japan’s Kenichi Tago.
Da Nang in second place after Gia Lai stalemate
SHB Da Nang managed a hard-earned 1-1 draw with visitors Hoang Anh Gia Lai in the delayed ninth-round match to climb to second place in the table.
Midfielder Huynh Quoc Anh scored the opening goal for Da Nang in the 52th minute with a long-range drive into the top corner of the net beyond the reach of the visiting Nigerian keeper Bassey Akpan.
Brazilian striker Evaldo Goncaves scored the equaliser with an easy tap-in from inside the box in the last minute of regular time as he collected a ball that emerged from a scramble in front of Da Nang’s goal following clumsy defending from the home defenders.
With one point from the draw, Da Nang are now on 22 points, the same as Song Lam Nghe An, but are placed above them due to Da Nang being the winner in the encounter between both teams in first half of the season.
With one point from the match, Gia Lai now have 21 points and move from fifth place to fourth place.
In another delayed fixture, hosts Sai Gon Xuan Thanh easily beat Kien Giang 4-2 to climb to sixth place with 18 points.
Kien Giang remain in 11th place with 12 points.
Source: VNS/VOV