Nearly 300 wushu artists to compete at national tourney; Yamaha sponsors junior football champs; SIG sponsors Vovinam tourneys; HCM City sports festival kicks off

The sixth National Sports Festival will take place at the Quan Ngua Sports Complex in Hanoi from March 28 to April 7 with the participation of nearly 300 martial artists from nationwide.

111 athletes will contend in the Taolu (performance) events for 28 sets of medals, and 93 athletes in Shanshou (combat) for 46 sets of medals.

The World Wushu Federation has agreed that the difficulty levels of the competitions will be set higher to improve the precision of marking by arbitrators and create more excitement and diversity in the tournament.

Yamaha sponsors junior football champs

Yamaha Vietnam will be the main sponsor of the National Junior Football Championships from 2010-2012, announced the organising board of the tournament on March 29.

The event is an annual official national tournament and has becomes a well known social activity. It aims to promote junior football across the country and discover young talented players for the national squad.

The qualifying round, which has attracted 63 teams, will be held across 6 provinces including Phu Tho, Thai Binh, Dak Lak, Ninh Thuan, An Giang and Ho Chi Minh City, from May 25-June 10.

The organising board will select the best U11 and U13 teams from the qualifying rounds to compete in the final round, which will take place in the central province of Binh Dinh and the northern province of Thai Nguyen, respectively.

The Championships is being sponsored by the Dong Luc Sports Group.

SIG sponsors Vovinam tourneys

The Saigon Invest Group (SIG) has decided to provide financial support to Vietnamese martial art, Vovinam, in 2010.

Under the agreement signed in Hanoi on March 29 between the SIG, the World Federation of Vovinam (WFV) and the Vietnam Federation of Vovinam, SIG will grant as much as US$150,000 to support Vovinam performance at the France-Vietnam Vovinam Tournament in France, the Asian Vovinam Championships in Iran and many other tournaments in Vietnam in 2010.

At the signing ceremony, SIG President Dang Thanh Tam was presented with a certificate of merit and an insignia by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for his contributions to the success of the first World Vovinam Championships, held in Vietnam in late July.

In 2009, SIG provided the World Federation of Vovinam and the Vietnam Federation of Vovinam with US$100,000, which helped organise training and competition tours for martial artists and coaches.

HCM City sports festival kicks off

The sixth Ho Chi Minh City Sports Festival officially opened at Phu Tho stadium on March 27 to mark the 64th anniversary of the sports sector as well as the 35th anniversary of the Southern Liberation and National Unification and the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.

Present at the opening ceremony were more than 4,000 athletes, delegates, artists and students.

The most outstanding athletes selected from previous competitions at communal and district levels will compete in 31 sports events, including table tennis, body-building, badminton, chess, billiards and traditional martial arts.

The closing ceremony will take place at Phan Dinh Phung stadium on April 15. Winners at the festival will later compete at the National Sports Festival, scheduled to take place in Da Nang city.

PV