Worthy winners: The Japanese team (top photo) celebrate their victory in the Asia-Pacific Robot Contest (ABU Robocon) after beating Viet Nam 1 in the final, held in Da Nang yesterday.

DA NANG (VNS)— Japanese students from the Kanazawa Institute of Technology took 51 seconds to beat their hosts Viet Nam 1 in the final to win the Asia-Pacific Robot Contest (ABU Robocon) yesterday.

It's the second time that Japan has won the championship since the contest debuted in Tokyo in 2002.

"We are the champions. It's a great honour for us. We did our best to overcome troubles with our robot from the qualifying rounds," said Okamoto Takuma, a member of the Japanese team, after the final.

"Viet Nam played very well today, but we took the moment to win the game."

Viet Nam 1 had a good start, but their manual robot had a little trouble.

"It's regrettable we lost the game today. We had a good chance to win the championship with support from 600 students," said Viet Nam's team leader, Tran Ba Thuan.

Viet Nam 2 and Indonesia drew for third place.

An electric spectacle: The Asia-Pacific Robot Contest 2013 attracts teams from 17 countries and one territory.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan attended the event and presented the award to the champions.

"It gives me a great pleasure to attend the 12th ABU Asia Pacific Robo Contest. Ninety teams in the Asia Pacific region gathered to the ABU Robon 2013 after getting through hundreds of qualifying rounds in 17 countries and one territory," Nhan said.

"The Government of Viet Nam pays special attention to the development of science and technology. Viet Nam aims to join the leading ASEAN countries in the level of development of science and technology by the year 2020," he said.

"The ABU contest gathers young and creative talents, giving momentum to the development of science and technology in Viet Nam against the backdrop of Asia Pacific becoming the most dynamic region in the world."

Star of the show: A member of the Japanese team controls their robot during the final of the Asia-Pacific Robot Contest. The team were eventually crowned champions of the contest. — VNA/VNS Photos Tran Le Lam

VTV General Director Tran Binh Minh said the regional robot contest helped raise innovation among young students at colleges and universities.

He said the theme of this year's contest, The Green Planet, aimed to raise awareness of environmental protection.

"We want to send a message through the contest that every country should play a role to make the earth greener and cleaner," Minh said.

At the closing ceremony yesterday, Viet Nam handed the tournament flag to India, who will host the next competition on August 24, 2014.

This year's event (the 11th of its kind) marked the second time that Viet Nam has hosted the technology innovation competition, which features students predominantly from the Asian-Pacific region.

Viet Nam won the championship three times.

The competition, which sponsored by Japanese giant car maker Toyota, saw the participation of teams from Hong Kong, Mongolia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Fiji, Brunei, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Egypt, and Russia. — VNS