Vietnamese wrestlers compete abroad; Amateur shooters target cash prizes; Supachai takes Vietnamese citizenship; U-23s leave for China training camp

The Vietnamese wrestlers, most of them between 18 to 20 years old, will compete in both Greco-Roman and freestyle categories.

Nguyen Huy Manh and Bui Tuan Anh will compete in the men’s 55kg and 66kg freestyle categories, while Ho Quang Hai and Ta Ngoc Tan will participate in the men’s 55kg and 60kg Greco-Roman categories.

Nguyen Thi Lua, who brought home a bronze from the Asian championships and two silver medals at the Asian Youth championships in July, and Tran Thi Dieu Ninh will compete in the women’s 48kg and 51kg freestyle categories, respectively.

Wrestling is one of the few sports that fetches many gold medals for Viet Nam in the region’s biggest sports event, the Southeast Asian Games or SEA Games.

Amateur shooters target cash prizes

Amateur shooters will compete in the Viet Nam Shooting Federation’s (VSF) Him Lam Open from October 9-11, the federation reported.

It’s the first tournament that has been co-organised by the VSF and the Him Lam company for amateurs in Viet Nam.

Participants will compete in the singles and team events in trap, skeet and 25m pistol shooting at the National Sport Centre in Ha Noi.

The winners of the singles and team events will walk away with a cash-prize of VND15 million (US$800) each.

Organisers will also present the best shooters with two luxury cars.

Supachai takes Vietnamese citizenship

Supachai Jitjumroon of Thailand has been the first foreign volleyball player granted Vietnamese citizenship and has taken a Vietnamese name: Dinh Hoang Chai.

Supachai has played for the men’s premiership team, Trang An Ninh Binh, since 2004 and helped the northern team win the national championship last year.

This is the fifth year the Viet Nam Volleyball Federation has allowed teams to sign two foreign players, one of whom may play at any given time.

Teams with foreign players, can legally have two of them on the field at a time.

U-23s leave for China training camp

Vietnamese players of U-23 team will leave for a 10-day training camp in Kunming, China today, September 16.

Meanwhile, the national U-19 team will start their preparation for the pre-Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Laos next month.

The U-19 squad, who will be taken by young coach Trieu Quang Ha, will substitute for the U-23 team to compete in the pre-SEA Games, after Portuguese Henrique Calisto withdrew from the tournament last week.

Thailand has also decided to send their U-19 team to participate in the pre-SEA Games event instead of sending their U-23 team.

Gia Lai player to train at Arsenal

Lee Nguyen, who plays for Vietnamese V-League Hoang Anh Gia Lai, has arrived in London for a three-week training camp with Arsenal’s reserve team of the English Premier League.

As scheduled, Nguyen and Thailand’s Datsakorn Thonglao will be training for a month with the Gunner’s reserve team in England, out the Thai maestro, who had agreed to play for Gia Lai for two more years, postponed the training session for personal reasons.

Lee Nguyen, who is the first American-Vietnamese footballer to play in the national football championship, will try to impress Arsenal coach Asene Wenger during his stay.

The 23-year-old Nguyen, who signed a three-year contract with Gia Lai earlier this year, has played for Denmark’s Randers, trained with PSV Eindhoven’s youth team in the Netherlands and the US national U-20 team.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News