LookAtVietnam – An awards ceremony to honour the best sports-people and disabled athletes of the year will be held in Ha Noi on Sunday.

Nguyen Hoang Ngan.

Olympian Hoang Anh Tuan tops the winners list after bagging the only medal for Viet Nam in the Beijing Olympics last August. He took the silver in the men’s 56kg weightlifting category with a 290kg lift, and will be honoured with the Labour Order, Second Class.

Tuan, 24, will also receive a cash-prize of VND100 million (US$6,000) from the Dong Luc Group for his silver medal.

The Bac Ninh-born weightlifter also topped the list for Viet Nam’s 2008 athlete of the year with 1,430 points in a vote by hundreds of national sports journalists.

For their contribution to Viet Nam’s first win at the regional ASEAN Football Championship-AFF Suzuki Cup, three footballers were also named to the winners list, including national goalkeeper Duong Hong Son - AFF Suzuki Cup’s most valuable player - and Le Cong Vinh, for second and third place respectively.

Defender Vu Nhu Thanh is the third national footballer to make the Top Ten cut, coming in right at 10th place with 222 points.

The trio also topped the Golden Ball Awards, with Son taking the top prize and Thanh and Vinh taking the Silver and Bronze Balls, respectively.

Among the other top ten athletes were karate artist Nguyen Hoang Ngan and badminton starlet Nguyen Tien Minh.

The organising committee will also present awards to some disabled athletes and their coaches.

The top five disabled athletes include track and field athletes Dao Van Cuong and Nguyen Thi Hai, weightlifters Chau Hoang Tuyet Loan and Dinh Thi Nga and swimmer Vo Huynh Anh Khoa.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News