Viet Nam tops regional table tennis; Olympic martial artist to retire; Tien Minh to compete in France

Doan Kien Quoc.

Without veteran players from Singapore, who have dominated the tournament for years, Vietnamese athletes met no major obstacles on their way to winning the men’s team, men’s doubles and mixed doubles events.

They also pocketed four silvers in the men’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles categories. One bronze went to the two-time Olympian Doan Kien Quoc in men’s singles.

Olympic martial artist to retire

Taekwondo martial artist Nguyen Van Hung will retire by the end of this year.

Southeast Asian Games champion Hung, who has won the regional title five years in a row, has been a key element of the national team in every national and international competitions in the men’s over-80kg class.

He is the only Vietnamese martial artist who has made it to the Olympic games twice, in 2004 and 2008.

Hung suffers from a long-standing knee injury, which prevented him from getting high results at the Beijing Games in August, despite an earlier knee surgery in Singapore.

Hung is completing his academic study at the HCM City Sports and Physical Training College. He will graduate next year and remain involved with the sport as a trainer.

Tien Minh to compete in France

Top national player Nguyen Tien Minh will take part in badminton’s France Super Series in Pierre De Coubertin Stadium, Paris from October 28-November 2.

Viet Nam’s sole representative will meet with strong rivals in the nine legs of the Super Series Circuit.

As in the draw, Minh will face Marc Zwiebler of Germany in the first main round. Minh, who ranks 21st in the world, is expected to win over 24th seed Zwiebler.

Both rivals had disappointing results at the Denmark Open two weeks ago; Zwiebler was eliminated in the final 32nd round, and Minh was ousted in the same round by the Netherlands’ Eric Pang, who was ranked 10 steps lower than him.

42 male and 43 female athletes have registered for the tournament, including top men’s players Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat and leading Chinese player Bao Chunlal.

(Source: Viet Nam News)