Young team sets hopes high for SEA Games

The Vietnam women's team have been drawn in Group B with the hosts Indonesia and the Philippines in the women's doubles sepak takraw (rattan ball kicking) event at the Southeast Asian Games.
The Vietnam women's team have been drawn in Group B with the hosts Indonesia and the Philippines in the women's doubles sepak takraw (rattan ball kicking) event at the Southeast Asian Games.

The team would face SEA Games defending champions Myanmar , who will be playing in Group A with Malaysia and Laos , in the semi-finals.

Vietnam will debut a young squad at the Games.

"It will be the first time I've played in the SEA Games. I'm a bit nervous but I will do my best to help the team qualify for the semi-finals," said team member Lai Thi Huyen Trang.

Trang will team up with Dinh Thi Thuy Hanh and Nguyen Thi Dung in the doubles and regu (three persons) event.

She said the doubles event was easier than the regu.

At the World Cup in Malaysia in September, the team bagged a silver medal after losing to Thailand in the final.

"This SEA Games is expected to be tough for the new-look women's squad. The youngsters have little experience of big events, even though they took home a silver medal from the World Cup," said head of the Sepak Takraw Department of the National Sport Administration, Nguyen Xuan Hanh.

The team's coach Hoang Huu Nghia said: "The team will try their best in the two group matches to qualify for the semi-finals. I hope the young players will raise their game and succeed in their debut at the SEA Games."

The sepak takraw event is scheduled to start on Nov. 12 and finish on Nov. 16.

At their SEA Games debut in Indonesia in 1997, Vietnam nabbed a bronze medal before bagging two golds in the SEA Games in Vietnam in 2003.

At the 2006 Asian Games in Doha , Vietnam bagged two gold medals after beating the sport's inventor, Thailand , in the women's finals.

In 2007, Vietnam bagged two silver and one bronze medal at the King's Cup World Sepak Takraw Championships in Bangkok. /.

See more