Body builders pump up; Swimming records broken; Minh expects to face Wei

Pham Van Mach.

National and former Asian champion Pham Van Mach will contest the men’s Under-55kg category; Nguyen Van Lam is in the men’s U60kg and Nguyen Hai Au men’s 70kg.

International competition rookies Nguyen Truong Giang and Ngo Quang Trung will contest the men’s U70kg and men’s U75kg pools respectively under the watchful eye of coaches Chu Bang Vu and Huynh Anh.

Swimming records broken

Eight national records were broken at the National Junior Swimming and Finsdiving Championship being held in HCM City.

Among them, Nguyen Nhat Tu of HCM City attracted attention with his result of 45.69 seconds in the boy’s 100m bifins which broke both national and Asian records. His result of 20.63secs in the 50m bifins was .07secs off the Asian record.

Hanoian 19-year-old Duong Thi Huyen Trang broke records in the girls’ 50m and 100m surfaces and 50m bifins.

After three days of finswimming, Ha Noi tops the medal list with 27 gold, five silver and 14 bronze. They are followed by Da Nang and Long An teams.

Coaches will use the performances to select the national team for the third Asian Indoor Games in Viet Nam in October-November.

The swimming began yesterday and will conclude on Monday.

Minh expects to face Wei

National top badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh will be 14th seed at the World Badminton Championship in New Dehli from August 10-16.

After the draw announced on Tuesday, experts predicted the Vietnamese Olympian may face world No 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the third round of the men’s single event.

Minh who ranks 14th by the Badminton World Federation will play Petr Koukal of Czech Republic in the first match. Koukal is 47th in the world.

If he wins, his second match will be against the winner of the match between Brice Leverdez of France, No 41, and Henrik Toth of Hungary, No 112.

Minh will be looking to repeat his victory over Lee in June at the Singapore Open.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News