Liem remains in world top 100; Minh, Nhung play in Aussie Grand Prix; World Cup steals V-League limelight; Vietnam competes in regional and world sport events

Liem remains in world top 100

Le Quang Liem is still in the world top 100 according to the International Chess Federation’s July rankings were released on Thursday.

Despite dropping nine places, the Vietnamese international grand master is still 55th. The drop follows his absence from several recent competitions.

His teammate, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, was kicked off the list, but he is still listed as one of the world best 20 young masters at 14th. Liem is sixth on the list.

Both will compete at the World Series contest in San Diego, California, from July 28 to August 1.

Minh, Nhung play in Aussie Grand Prix

National top player Nguyen Tien Minh is seeded No 1 at the Australian Grand Prix starting on July 13 in Melbourne.

Minh, world No 6, gets a bye to the second round where he meets with the winner of the match between South Korea’s Kyum Kang-woo and James Eunson of New Zealand.

If he wins, the two-time Olympian is expected to meet no worthy rival until the semi-final round where, according to predictions, he will clash with No 3, Yunus Alamsyah of Indonesia.

In this tournament, Viet Nam also have Le Ngoc Nguyen Nhung playing in the women’s single event. With world ranking of 80, Nhung is the event’s No 5. She will face Vignes Waran Teshana from France. She also registers to pair with Le The Hung in the mixed doubles event.

The Grand Prix finals are scheduled for August 18.

World Cup steals V-League limelight

The FIFA World Cup in South Africa has diverted attention away from the V-League, which resumed on Wednesday after a three-week break to avoid clashing with the festival’s opening ceremony.

There were several watchable encounters on Wednesday – like the ones between two former two-time champions, Becamex Binh Duong and Hoang Anh Gia Lai, and between defending champions SHB Da Nang and Khatoco Khanh Hoa. However, attendance’s around the country were disappointing.

A round that normally would have attracted big audiences saw the lowest average attendance of the 16 rounds this season – just 6,742 spectators per game compared to an average of 10,189 earlier.

Only football-mad Hai Phong managed to attract 20,000 spectators, while Binh Duong got 12,000.

At all five remaining stadiums, the attendance was in the low thousands or even hundreds.

Vietnam competes in regional and world sport events

Athlete Nguyen Thi Thu Huong has won the first gold for Vietnam in the 3,000m hurdle event on the first day of the Asian Youth Athletics Champs that kicked off at Hanoi’s My Dinh National Stadium on July 1.

The champs, an official sporting event of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) for athletes aged 18 and 19, drew the participation of nearly 650 athletes, coaches and officials from 37 Asian countries and territories.

Meanwhile, seven Vietnamese golfers have earned berths at the Asian Final for the Mercedes Trophy 2010 slated for August in Australia.

The golfers are winners of the country final that took place in the central provinces of Quang Nam and Da Nang on June 25 and 26.

After the Asian Final, the best Vietnamese golfer will represent the nation in the World Final to be held in Stuttgart, Germany, in September.

The prestigious Mercedes Trophy 2010 is a golf festival gathering the golfers nationwide competing in four rounds: Qualifying round at Club championship, Country Final, Regional Final and the World Final.

PV