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Posts Tagged ‘Games’

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Indian police raid homes of Delhi Games chief

In Uncategorized on December 24, 2010 at 5:55 am

 Indian police on Friday raided the homes of the chief organiser of the New Delhi Commonwealth Games, Suresh Kalmadi, as part of a probe into graft allegations that surrounded the event.


A spokesperson from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said police had conducted searches at Kalmadi’s residences in the capital and the western town of Pune, and at the home of his personal secretary Manoj Bhore.

Commonwealth Games chief organiser Suresh Kalmadi speaks at the event’s closing ceremony at Jawarharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi in October, 2010

The Games, which were held in Delhi in October, were hit by claims of massive financial irregularities as the budget ballooned to an estimated six billion dollars.


The CBI spokesperson said a top police official had written to the government earlier this month requesting Kalmadi’s removal from the chairmanship of the Games organising committee on the grounds that he was obstructing the investigation.


Kalmadi, who took much of the international criticism about unfinished facilities and poor planning, quit as secretary to India’s ruling Congress party in November.


The CBI raided the homes of other top committee officials in November and arrested the sacked treasurer, M. Jayachandran, the third official to be accused of forgery and cheating over the awarding of Games-related contracts.


Police have charged two other former Games officials over alleged corruption.


Companies contracted to provide sports surfaces, training equipment and landscaping for the Games were also raided by tax inspectors in October.


The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) national watchdog has received complaints alleging up to 1.8 billion dollars of Games money was misappropriated.


A CVC report into the Games has confirmed the use of poor-quality materials and massive cost overruns on construction projects.


A defiant Kalmadi brushed off corruption allegations, telling reporters in November: “I have not done anything wrong, even in a single thing. I welcome the investigations and will answer all queries.”


Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set up a panel after the Games concluded to investigate graft claims and two other government bodies are also running separate probes.

Source: SGGP

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Vietnam wins more medals at Asian Para Games

In Uncategorized on December 19, 2010 at 8:27 am




Vietnam wins more medals at Asian Para Games


QĐND – Saturday, December 18, 2010, 22:18 (GMT+7)

Le Duc Hung and Dao Van Cuong won a silver medal and a bronze medal at the athletic event of the 2010 Asian Para Games in China on December 17.


In the final round of men’s 400m running event for disabled athletes, Le Duc Hung finished as second and Dao Van Cuong as third. Jorchuy Kitsana from Thailand won gold in the event. 


As of December 18, Vietnam team has won 16 medals, of which are 3 gold, 4 silver and 9 bronze and comes 11th in the medal list. 


China comes first with 376 medals (175 gold), followed by Japan (29 gold) and the Republic of Korea (26 gold).


Source: VOV


Source: QDND

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Competition to create games held among junior students

In Uncategorized on December 16, 2010 at 9:40 am

A competition has been held for junior students in the country to develop students’ creativity, announced the Pioneer Teenager newspaper’s representatives at a press briefing on Monday.

A traditional game strengthens collective spirit

The competition to create games involved in groups of students is held by the Thieu Nien Tien Phong (the Pioneer Teenager newspaper), the Department of Students’ Affairs under the Ministry of Education and Training and the Swiss’s Sugus sweets.


Participants will draw their own ideas of the games on paper. These most interesting games of the final round will be played in 74 schools in the country to find out the best ones.


Vu Quang Vinh, Editor –in –chief of the Thieu Nien Tien Phong newspaper, said students can create new games or change available games to suit teenagers of the same ages and psychology at present. These games with building team or group work and collective spirit will be highly praised.


The total prizes for individuals and collectives will be up to VND400 million. However, the most valuable prize, according to the organizers, is that more interesting games will be enjoyed by students in break times or after strained studying hours.

Source: SGGP

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Nation claims more silvers at Asian Games

In Uncategorized on November 25, 2010 at 5:22 pm




Nation claims more silvers at Asian Games


QĐND – Thursday, November 25, 2010, 20:54 (GMT+7)

Vietnam earned two more silver medals at the Asian Games on the 12th day of the competition in Guangzhou , China on Nov. 24.


Defending champion Vu Thi Nguyet Anh failed to keep her karate title in the women’s under-50kg class after losing 0-2 to host rival Li Hong in the final clash.


Anh met no difficulty on her way to the final as she dominated three rivals from Iran , Chinese Taipei and the Republic of Korea . However Anh, who recently recovered from an injury, was unable to surpass Li.


Valentina Velena of India and Yasina Torrattanawathana of Thailand each walked away with bronze.


Another Vietnamese defending champion lost their crown on Nov. 24 in the sepak takraw regu final after a 15-21, 21-14, 11-15 defeat to Thailand , which is known to have the world’s strongest competitors.


Sepak takraw was one of Vietnam ‘s highest hopes for Asian Games gold, but as with several other sports, they failed to reach their target.


Before leaving for Guangzhou , the Vietnam sport delegation set a target of winning four to six titles to put them within the world’s top 20 strongest countries. But now that the Games are only three days away from over and most of Vietnam ‘s strongest athletes have already finished with their competitions, the target seems far out of reach.


Track and field athletes are currently the country’s best hope for top honours.


Southeast Asia’s fastest woman, Vu Thi Huong, won a berth in the 200m final with a time of 24.05sec in Nov. 24’s semis.


Huong’s teammate Truong Thanh Hang will kick off her second final competition later on the afternoon of Nov. 25 in the women’s 800m event.


Hang, who won silver on Nov. 23 in the 1,500m, is expected to reach even higher in the 800m as she has practised a lot for this event.


She will face Magarita Matsko of Kazakhstan , Tintu Lukka from India and Bahrain ‘s Isa Jamal Maryam Yusuf.


On the men’s side, iron man Vu Van Huyen on Nov. 24 took part in five events of the men’s decathlon. He earned 4,002 points to rank fourth, some 243 points less than the leading athlete.


Women’s chess masters are another final hope for Vietnam , as they entered the semi-final round with eight points after seven matches.


 Karate artists will also share the heavy task of seeking gold in the final competition of the Games.


Six fighters are set to compete in the last three days of the event, including two-time SEA Games champions Bui Thi Trieu in the women’s under-61kg category, Nguyen Ngoc Thanh in the men’s 67kg pool and Le Bich Phuong who won a gold in the women’s 55kg class at the Indonesia Open.


The delegation has won 14 silver, 12 bronze medals and is ranked 26th.


Source: VNA


Source: QDND

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US, S.Korea plan war games after N.Korean attack

In Uncategorized on November 24, 2010 at 6:20 am

The United States and South Korea stand “shoulder to shoulder” in their response to a deadly North Korean artillery bombardment and will soon stage combined war games, the White House said.


In their first joint response to Tuesday’s attack on a South Korean border island, presidents Barack Obama and Lee Myung-Bak agreed on the military exercises, as pressure built on China to rein in its wayward ally.


South Korea, after decrying an “inhumane atrocity” against defenseless civilians, said it was suspending promised flood aid to North Korea, and has already called off talks on reuniting families split by the Korean War.


The attack on the Yellow Sea island of Yeonpyeong, which sent panicked civilians fleeing and depressed financial markets worldwide, has fueled anxiety about North Korea’s intentions after a new nuclear program came to light.

Destroyed houses on Yeonpyeong island after North Korea fired dozens of artillery shells on November 23.

Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan called on China to use its “significant influence over North Korea” to tamp down the latest spasm of tensions on the divided peninsula.


A White House statement said Obama telephoned Lee to declare that the United States “stands shoulder to shoulder” with its ally South Korea, which is home to 28,500 US troops.


The two leaders agreed to hold “combined military exercises and enhanced training in the days ahead,” the statement said. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the two nations would start a naval exercise on Sunday.


The intention of the drills is to “continue the close security cooperation between our two countries, and to underscore the strength of our alliance and commitment to peace and security in the region,” the White House said.


The artillery fire killed two South Korean marines and wounded 15 more plus three civilians in one of the worst incidents since the 1950-53 war, sparking outrage in many newspapers in Seoul as the government was urged to hit back.


“A club is the only medicine for a mad dog,” the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper said, calling the shelling a “war crime” that demanded a military riposte.


South Korea readied to deploy more artillery on Yeonpyeong, including extra K-9 self-propelled guns to replace shorter-range 105-mm howitzers, after officials said North Korea fired up to 170 artillery shells into its territory.


“We’re going to work with China, we’re going to work with all our six-party partners on a response,” US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, referring to an international group tackling North Korea’s nuclear drive.


The firing came after North Korea’s disclosure of an apparently operational uranium enrichment plant — a second potential way of building a nuclear bomb — which is causing serious alarm for the United States and its allies.


It also comes as North Korea prepares for an eventual dynastic succession from Kim Jong-Il to his youngest son, Kim Jong-Un. The expected transfer is fueling speculation about the opaque regime’s military and nuclear ambitions.


China — North Korea’s main ally and economic prop — has expressed “concern” over the shelling but not publicly criticized North Korea. Its media have given generally sympathetic coverage to Pyongyang’s version of events.


North Korea’s supreme command has accused South Korea of firing first, and vowed “merciless military attacks with no hesitation if the South Korean enemy dares to invade our sea territory by 0.001 mm”.


But the rest of the world has united in blaming North Korea, and China is under mounting pressure to intervene, despite its historic reluctance to do anything to destabilise the Stalinist regime in Pyongyang.


“We should ask China, which has significant influence over North Korea, to make efforts to jointly restrain North Korean actions,” Kan said at a Japanese cabinet task force meeting set up in response to the attack.

Australia called the “outrageously provocative” shelling a threat to the entire region’s stability and Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said: “I believe it’s important now for China to bring all of its influence to bear on North Korea.”

Yeonpyeong lies just south of the border declared by UN forces after the war, but north of the sea border declared by Pyongyang. The Yellow Sea border was the scene of deadly naval clashes in 1999, 2002 and last November.

Tensions have been acute since the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March, which Seoul says was the result of a North Korean torpedo attack. Pyongyang has rejected the charge.

Source: SGGP

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Vietnam to host Asian Beach Games in 2016

In Uncategorized on November 16, 2010 at 2:32 pm

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Chinese goldrush continues at Asian Games

In Uncategorized on November 15, 2010 at 6:30 am

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Badminton: Top seeds faces tough task at Asian Games

In Uncategorized on November 2, 2010 at 1:44 pm

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Vietnamese online games off to faltering start

In Uncategorized on October 13, 2010 at 7:57 am

Of the 55 online games run by distributors nationwide, just one has been produced in Vietnam so far.

Miss Vietnam 2006 Mai Phuong Thuy is invited to be the game’s ambassadress, as well as a model for designing a character. (Photo: SGGP)

The market is heavily reliant on games imported from China and Korea, and there is no indication that this will change, because Vietnamese firms have made little or no headway in developing their own online games.


At the beginning of last year, more than 40 online games had been officially released in the local market, but all of them were developed in other countries.


Initial efforts to develop online games have shown that local firms have a long way to go.


 “Thoi Loan” (Age of Chaos), made by the Trangenix team, won four prizes in the VietGames 2006 contest. The game’s plot was based on the “Son Tinh – Thuy Tinh” (Mountain God – Water God) legend.


“Thoi Loan” was hailed and welcomed by many as the first made-in-Vietnam online game.


However, after being accused of stealing a foreign source code, the game turned out to be a failure that was an initial setback for the domestic online game developing industry.


Two years later, a multiplayer online game named “Lang Online” (Online Village), developed by 3DVN Co., Ltd. on LOL engine and operating in a flash environment won a prize for a cultural and educational online game at VietGames 2008. This game also disappeared without a trace, however, for reasons that are not clear.


In January last year, the online-game community was excited about an association forged between VTC Game and its Korean partner, VinaDreamline, to produce games in Vietnam. The companies revealed that it would be a multiplayer online role-playing game. So far, no other information has come out about the project.


Meanwhile, VinaGames had laid the first bricks for developing a Vietnamese online game industry in 2006 as it began developing an online game named “Thuan Thien Kiem” (Heaven’s Will Sword), which received major interest and support from the community and the government.


In particular, Miss Vietnam 2006, Mai Phuong Thuy, was invited to be the game’s ambassadress, as well as a model for designing a character. A delegation from the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications, led by deputy minister Do Quy Doan, had visited VinaGames and its game developers before the debut of “Thuan Thien Kiem” on August 12, 2009.


First success


Vietnamese online gamers registered in large numbers to play “Thuan Thien Kiem”. Although the game publisher opened six servers, the game was continuously overloaded as many characters gathered at the game’s starting point.


Fortunately, VinaGames surprised local gamers as they solved the problem in quick time, an impressive achievement because it usually took a lot more time for foreign developers to fix their glitches. Here was proof that Vietnamese online game developers could control their products well.


However, according to the game producer, although the number of members in the developing team has risen to 200 people from just 20 at the beginning, they are facing many difficulties. Some phases of the game have to be processed by other countries as the skills and technology of Vietnamese developers are not sophisticated enough, yet.


The company invested VND25 billion (US$1.25 million) in “Thuan Thien Kiem”. It faced many difficulties in getting permission and approval for the game content, which had to suit Vietnamese habits and customs.


On the other hand, “Dat Viet truyen ky”, an online game developed by Singaporean company, Zealot Digital, had no problems getting the copyright and releasing it in Vietnam, although it is not very authentic, historically speaking.


“Dat Viet truyen ky” is based on a story set during the reign of the 18th Hung King, but its characters wear ao dai and palm-leaf conical hats.


“Thuan Thien Kiem”, with the inclusion of several historical landmarks like the Thang Long Royal Citadel, Mot Cot Pagoda, Co Loa Citadel and the ancient capital of Hoa Lu in its settings, has contributed in a small way to promoting national history and culture.


It currently attracts 60,000 regular players. The game is updated twice or three times per month. However, according to Le Hong Minh, chairman of VinaGames, the number of players of “Thuan Thien Kiem” has accounts for just 10 percent of those of other online games because its story-line is not really interesting and its graphics are not visually stunning.


However, this is just a start for a nascent industry, and several challenges remain ahead. Given the recent crackdown on games with violent content, the potential for developing interesting, exciting and fun-filled games is great, experts say.


With greater co-operation between authorities and the developers of online games, the industry can develop well in the coming months and years, they add.

Source: SGGP

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Vietnam prepares for AFF Cup 2010 and Asian Games

In Uncategorized on August 12, 2010 at 7:24 pm




Vietnam prepares for AFF Cup 2010 and Asian Games


QĐND – Thursday, August 12, 2010, 20:34 (GMT+7)

PANO – The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and national coach, Calisto, have selected 50 athletes for the national team and U23 team to prepare for the upcoming Asian Games and AFF Cup Football Tournament 2010 to be held at the end of this year. The final list will be announced soon.


Accordingly, the best players are chosen for the national team who will try the best to secure the AFF Championship, while the U23 team will have the younger players to compete at the 16th Asian Games to be held in China.


These selected players will join their respective teams on September 5th. Coach Calisto will train the national team to prepare for the Toyota Cup, an international football tournament, in Hanoi from September 20th to 24th.


The event, part of activities to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi will draw the participation of young national teams from Australia, Kuwait and North Korea.


The U23 team led by Coach Phan Thanh Hung will train at the Thanh Long Sports Centre in Ho Chi Minh City. The young squad will compete at a friendship football tournament from September 28th to October 2rd with Olympic teams from Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.


Translated by Duy Minh


Source: QDND