Category: Sports

Berlin: Vietnamese athletes are eyeing to enter the final round of the Cottbus FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup, to be held in the German city from February 22-25, so as to win tickets to the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.

At the first stop on this year’s FIG Apparatus World Cup circuit held in Cairo, Egypt on February 15-18, the Vietnamese athletes, namely Nguyen Van Khanh Phong, Dang Ngoc Xuan Thien, Van Vy Luong and Trinh Hai Khang, had unsatisfactory performances.

Their coach Truong Minh Sang said that their minor faults at these competitions can be addressed to gain better results at upcoming ones.

After Cairo, the World Cup will come to Baku of Azerbaijan and Doha of Qatar./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: The 22nd celebration of Vietnam’s Poetry Day will be held at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel on February 23 – 24 (or the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the first lunar month of the Year of the Dragon).

According to President of the Vietnam Writers’ Association Nguyen Quang Thieu, the event will bring to the public valuable heritage in the poetic treasury of all 54 ethnic groups across Vietnam, typical works of Vietnamese poets about nature, places, and people of all the ethnic groups.

Besides, this year’s Poetry Day aims to honour great national unity, he said.

At the event, people have chance to learn more about poets and poems, and take part in contests or activities that introduce young popular poets and their works.

A poetry night – the event’s highlight held on February 24 will begin with a gong performance of Muong ethnic people from the northern province of Hoa Binh province. It will be followed by poem recitals and performances that feature works by 16 domestic and international poets.

In
addition, poetic stories and epics of the Tay, Muong and Thai ethnic groups will be performed at the event./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Quang Ninh: The Thanh Lan commune People’s Committee in Co To island district, the northeastern province of Quang Ninh, will hold a sea opening festival from February 23-24 (the fourth and fifth days of the Lunar New Year 2024).

The festival, the first of its kind to be held in the district, is among the activities to celebrate the 30th founding anniversary of the district (March 23, 1994- 2024).

During the festival, typical products of the locality will be shown at the committee’s office on February 23 while festival goers can also join folk games and enjoy musical performances.

On February 24, rituals will be performed at the whale worshipping temple in Hamlet 1, Thanh Lan commune. A fleet will set off on the first fishing trip in the Lunar New Year.

The organisation of the festival aims to preserve the unique traditional culture as well as rituals imbued with folk beliefs of fishermen, contributing to improving the spiritual life of the people, arousing the spirit of solidarity, and creating working mo
tivation for a new year. This is also an opportunity for people to express their respect and gratitude to the sea, praying for a peaceful new year, calm seas, and bumper hauls.

The festival is also expected to help raise people’s awareness of the sea’s importance and values that the sea brings to people, thereby joining hands in protecting the marine environment, and to promote the image of the locality so to boost tourism activities.

The 50.1 sq.km. district is an archipelago in the Gulf of Tonkin, located on the east of Van Don district and boasting pristine long beaches with blue sea water and white sand along with a diverse ecosystem of primary tropical forests./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Bac Giang: An exhibition of antiques founded in Bac Giang and literature works from the Ly-Tran Dynasties (1009-1400) as well as the Buddhism careers of leading monks of Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen opened at West Yen Tu spiritual-ecological tourism site in the northern province as part of the Bac Giang Culture-Tourism Week 2024.

The exhibition features 60 ceramic and pottery artifacts and items with the typical style of the Ly-Tran Dynasties, which were collected in Bac Giang, along with 40 images and 50 artifacts selected from eight archaeological excavation sites conducted recently.

It also displays and performs Han (Chinese script) and Nom (old Vietnamese script) calligraphy of literary works by King-Monk Tran Nhan Tong (1258-1308), the third King of the Tran Dynasty. King Tran Nhan Tong founded the first Vietnamese School of Buddhism called ‘Thien Tong’ or Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen sect on the 1,068m-high Yen Tu Mountain.

Alongside, vestiges of the Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen sect found in artifacts discovered during archae
ological excavations at relic sites in Bac Giang are also on display.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Vice Director of the Bac Giang Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Si Cam highlighted the values of the culture and literature during the Ly-Tran Dynasties.

He said that the exhibition aims to popularise the cultural heritages in the province as well as the Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen sect, thus enhancing the community’s sense of responsibility to protect and promote the national cultural and historical tradition.

At the same time, the event is expected to help attract investment in the provincial tourism and boost the local tourism development, promoting the image of a safe, attractive, civilised, friendly and hospitable destination./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

HCM City: Midfielder Nguyen Hoang Duc of The Cong Viettel Football Club (FC) has won the Golden Ball Award for the second time while goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh of Ho Chi Minh City FC 1 picked up the title in the women’s category.

The awarding ceremony was held in HCM City on February 19.

Launched in 1995 by the Sai Gon Giai phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper, the annual award aims to honour and recognise the contributions and achievements of national footballers during the year.

This year’s event was scheduled for early January but delayed as the national team were busy for the Asian Cup.

Duc was appreciated for his stable performance in both domestic leagues and national team. In the V.League 1 2023, he scored five goals and assisted five, contributing a big part to The Cong-Viettel’s third-place finish. He netted one and had two assists for the club in the National Cup, which saw The Cong-Viettel earning silver.

In the national team, Duc was one of key players in Philippe Troussier’s tactics. He sc
ored two goals in Vietnam’s friendly matches against Syria and Palestine last year.

Earlier, Duc achieved the glory in 2021.

The Silver Ball and Bronze Ball titles went to striker Pham Tuan Hai of Hanoi FC and goalkeeper Dang Van Lam of Binh Dinh FC.

Meanwhile, Tran Thi Kim Thanh took the top title as she helped the national team win the gold medal at the 32nd Southeast Asian games (SEA Games), and made an impressive performance at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Striker Huynh Nhu of Portugal’s Lank FC earned the Silver Ball and midfielder Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy of HCM City FC 1 grabbed the Bronze Ball.

In the Futsal category, the Golden, Silver and Bronze Ball titles belonged to Pham Duc Hoa, Chau Doan Phat and Ho Van Y of Thai Son Nam FC.

Midfielder Nguyen Thai Son of Dong A Thanh Hoa FC and striker Ngoc Minh Chuyen of Thai Nguyen T and T FC were honoured with the Male Young Player of the Year, and Female Young Player of the Year.

Brazilian forward Rafaelson Bezerra Fernandes of Binh Dinh FC/Thep Xanh
Nam Dinh FC was named the best foreign player of 2023.

Particularly, the Devotion Award went to head coach of Hoa Binh FC Pham Thanh Luong and assistant coach of Thai Son Nam FC Tran Van Vu./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

HCM City: The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee will implement a programme that provides libraries across the city with up to five million books, both printed and e-books, from February 2024 to March 2025.

The programme is part of a plan that the committee has approved to develop book streets and reading spaces and promote reading culture in the city, which aims to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification Day (April 30, 1975 – 2025).

According to the plan, by March 2025, the city will build and develop book streets and book spaces in its eastern, western, southern and northern areas.

Thu Duc city’s book street opened in December 2023, and the city plans other book streets and spaces in Binh Tan district, District 7 and Cu Chi district.

The city will continue to develop a book street on Nguyen Van Binh street, District 1 to become a cultural tourism destination in the city.

Developing reading culture is an important policy that the city has implemented ove
r the past years. The city focuses on solutions to promote the development of reading culture among the people, closely following the criteria set by the World Book Capital – an initiative of UNESCO which recognises cities for promoting books and fostering reading./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: The following is a brief review of the day’s events as reported by the Vietnam News Agency.

-Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has requested the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) consider expanding the coverage of the visa exemption policy.

This is part of his recently issued Directive No. 06/CT-TTg, which urges the implementation of some focal tasks after the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.Read full text

– Ship 20 of Naval Region 3’s Brigade 172 arrived in the Indian port city of Visakhapatnam on February 18 to participate in the 12th Multilateral Naval Exercise 2024 (MILAN 2024), according to the Quan doi Nhan dan newspaper.

Themed ‘Camaraderie, Cohesion, Collaboration’, the exercise will take place in Visakhapatnam from February 19 to 27. It comprises harbour and sea phases.Read full text

-The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) began its first trading session following the Tet (Lunar New Year) festival with a gong-beating ceremony on February 19, the 10th day of the lunar year.

In his remarks, Deput
y Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi noted with pleasure achievements in the domestic stock market and the HoSE in particular last year, saying despite global and regional economic uncertainties, the Vietnamese stock market still experienced growth in terms of index, liquidity, and capitalisation.Read full text

-Airlines in the country served more than 1.5 million passengers, including 748,600 international and 762,400 domestic, during the recent Lunar New Year 2024 from February 8-14, the Vietnam Aviation Administration (VAA) has reported.

Air passengers and cargo during the period expanded by 11% year on year, it said, adding that although the domestic market saw a downward trend of 13.2%, the international market flourished at 54%.Read full text

-Some potential investors are exploring investment chances in central Da Nang city, and its Hi-Tech Park and Industrial Zones Authority (DHPIZA) hopes that 50% of those FDI businesses will invest in the local semiconductor industry this year.

Nearly 260 million
USD in investment was poured into the Da Nang Hi-Tech Park in 2023, the DHPIZA said, noting that many challenges are predicted for 2024 and beyond, but it hopes the firms who are planning to invest in the city and learning about the local market will make decisions this or next year.Read full text

-The Hai Duong provincial People’s Committee on February 19 held a ceremony to grant investment registration certificates to eight investors who committed over 2.2 trillion VND (89.65 million USD) in nine projects in the province.

The ceremony is the first of its kind that the committee held this year. Four of the investors are foreign.Read full text

-The Hoa Binh Construction Group announced on February 19 that it has won bidding packages to develop five social housing projects worth 72 million USD in Kenya.

Invested by the Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing, and Urban Development, the projects aim to provide accommodation for the police and military forces, and students of the Technical University of Ken
ya.Read full text

-The ancient city of Hoi An in the central province of Quang Nam has been named among the world’s top 25 Honeymoon Destinations of 2024 on Tripadvisor 2023 Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best Awards.

According to Nguyen Thanh Hong, Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Tripadvisor’s rankings are based on reviews from tourists over the past 12 months.

Source: Vietnam News Agency