Nearly 600 athletes from 16 cities and provinces are participating at the 7th National Ethnic Minorities' Sport Games taking place in the northern province of Dien Bien.

They are competing for 42 sets of medals in football, volleyball, cross-country running, archery and tug of war in gymnasiums and stadia across the province.

The festival, which closes on Thursday, is organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in co-ordination with the Dien Bien Provincial People's Committee.

World No 8 Minh falls short in Malaysia Open semi-final

Viet Nam's top badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh was defeated by Bao Chunlai of China in the semi-final of the Yonex-Sunrise Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold on Sunday.

Despite his best efforts the world No 8 and third-seeded Minh was ousted from the US$120,000 event after nearly an hour's competition against Chinese seventh-seed Bao, losing 2-1 (12-21, 21-19, 21-14).

Minh has never defeated Bao, who currently ranks 11th in the world, in any of their three previous encounters.

Teenage tennis star Thien to miss European events

Viet Nam's rising tennis star Nguyen Hoang Thien is set to miss five Grade 2 tournaments in Europe which would have secured him a place at Roland Garros later this month due to injury.

"In the process of training and competing at two recent International Tennis Federation's under-18 events in Europe, I've injured some abdominal muscles and need three weeks to recover, so at the end of May I can train again," Thien said.

The HCM City-born Thien plans to stay in France and train with his two coaches Tom Kindavong and Marcel Pettit till late October.

Thien has moved up nine places to 225th in the world junior rankings and aims to gain a spot in the Junior US Open in September.

Thien was the first Vietnamese player to gain a wildcard entry to this year's Junior Australian Open, and won doubles titles at Malaysia's Malacca International Junior Championship and the under-18 ITF Summer Championship in New Zealand.

Local cycling competition set to pedal off next week

Viet Nam's top cycling teams will race in a 476km cycling tournament in the northern provinces this week.

Organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the five-stage "Return to the Roots" race will run from Sunday through next Thursday.

The race will wind through Ha Noi, Phu Tho, Tuyen Quang, Bac Can and Cao Bang provinces. — VNS