Tennis 

HCM CITY — Hosts HCM City topped the medal chart at the Việt Nam Tennis Federation (VTF) Junior Tour 1 with impressive performances from their team.

After eight days of competition, HCM City took 12 gold, four silver and 19 bronze medals across 20 categories for boys and girls in age groups ranging from under eight to under 18.

The Military team came second with four golds, followed by Ninh Bình with three at the Bình Dương New City Community Sport Centre.

Among the winners were Nguyễn Minh Duy (boys' U18), Nguyễn Xuân Mai (girls' U18), Lê Phú Gia (boys' U14), Nguyễn Văn Trường Hải (boys' U10), and Nguyễn Đức Anh (boys' U8).

This year, the organisers applied a competition format recommended by the International Tennis Federation for junior tournaments. The individual events were played in a round-robin format in the early stages, before progressing to the knockout rounds to determine the champion.

This new format allowed athletes to compete in more matches, gain practical experience and maintain competitive motivation throughout the tournament. This change was appreciated by the teams and athletes, contributing to improved professional quality and the attractiveness of the competition.

The tournament, which was held by the VTF, the municipal Department of Culture and Sports and Luminous Trading Investment Company, featured 500 athletes from 18 delegations nationwide.

According to VTF, the Tour showed positive signs for Vietnamese tennis with a large number of participating athletes, improved professional quality, and the emergence of many promising young talents. These signs demonstrated the increasingly effective youth training programmes in many localities.

Vietnamese youth tennis has seen a marked improvement with a more sustainable development foundation after many localities paid more attention to their youth training systems, creating conditions for players to train and compete regularly and access high-quality competitive environments from a young age. — VNS