(VOV) -Top seed player Le Quang Liem easily defeated Villanueva Nelson in his first match of the HD Bank International Chess Championships, which started in Ho Chi Minh City on March 19.

Vietnam will host the U14 Southeast Asian Women Football Championship in Ho Chi Minh City from June 18-23, the Vietnam Football Federation announced on March 19. 

(VOV) - Nguyen Ha Thanh bagged a silver medal for Vietnam at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup which was wrapped up in France on March 18.

(VOV) -The French cultural centre L’Espace will introduce Hanoian audiences to Spanish fashion house Chula’s French-inspired collection as well as Boris Zuliani’s Polaroid photo exhibition from March 20–April 20.

As many as 100 statues made by ethnic artisans were honoured at the closing ceremony on March 18 of the Mang Den Culture, Sports, Tourism Week 2013 in the Mang Den ecotourism zone in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum. 

(VOV) - A delegation from the Olympic Council of Asia led by Wei Jizhong on March 18 worked with administrative representatives from Khanh Hoa, Danang and Binh Thuan to prepare for the 5th Asian Beach Games.

David Seton, a New Zealander now living in Vietnam, will lead a team of 15 on a 2,000km motorcycle journey across the country to raise money for health care.

The Hanoi Philharmonic Orchestra will give a concert under the baton of German conductor Bernhard Epstein at the Hanoi Opera House on March 20.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has asked the Prime Minister for permission to compile dossiers of Yen Tu Buddhist relic complex with a view to seeking World Heritage status for this national special relic. 

The central coastal province of Quang Ngai will hold the traditional ceremonies to commemorate the sailors of the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Flotilla in Ly Son island district on April 27-28.

(VOV) -RoK Toursim Year has been launched in Vietnam by the Republic of Korea (RoK) General Department of Tourism.

(VOV) - Vietnamese pianist Tran Thi Tam Ngoc will perform together with the National Symphony Orchestra in a Tchaikovsky concert at the Hanoi Opera House on April 4-5.

(VOV) - Cải lương (Renovated Theatre), a traditional art form of Vietnam, was presented to the French audience at an exchange in Paris on March 16. 

(VOV) - An international workshop on traditional weaving in ASEAN countries was held in Thai Nguyen province on March 17.

(VOV) - Vietnam won the trophy of the ASEAN friendship table tennis tournament organised by the Embassy of Vietnam in Egypt on March 16.

(VOV) - The Vietnamese basketball team Saigon Heat were defeated by rivals Malaysia Dragons in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) Championship in Ho Chi Minh City on March 15.

(VOV) - Vietnam’s national badminton team will take part in the Axiata Cup 2013 in Indonesia and Malaysia from March 21-31. 

(VOV) - The Italian symphony orchestra “I Solisti Veneti” will play a single concert at the Hanoi Opera House on March 21 to celebrate 40 years of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Italy.

(VOV) -The 2013 Mini Doc Fest presenting documentaries by young Southeast Asian filmmakers and artists will take place at the Goethe Institute in Hanoi from March 22-24.

Four cultural and performing art experts from Center Stage, a cultural exchange of the US Department of State that brings foreign performing artists to American stages, are visiting Vietnam to find candidates for its 2014 programme.

Vietnamese photographers are celebrating the 60th anniversary of national Photography Day.

Maison Vietnam in Toulouse (France) will organise an art performance program to raise funds to help poor children in Vietnam’s northern mountainous Dien Bien province, according to the Communist Party of Vietnam online newspaper CPV. 

The TienPhong Newspaper Run and Half Marathon will be held in the beautiful beach province of KienGiang’s Ha Tien Town on March 24. 

(VOV) - Fourteen representatives from Asia, Europe and Africa joined the final round of the 8th Miss World Student competition in Moscow, Russia, on March 14. 

(VOV) - The Vietnamese men’s football team has moved up to 129th position in the latest International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) rankings. 

Vietnamese filmmakers have been urged to produce quality movies “full of human value” and traditional cultural identity to develop the country’s film industry.

Television copyright for the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar is not free, and broadcasters across the region will have to bid for the right to televise the event.

Vietnam won one gold and two bronze medals at the Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships in Thailand on March 14. 

(VOV) - The ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) Hoops Festival will be held at the Tan Binh Sports and Culture Centre in Ho Chi Minh City on March 15-17. 

(VOV) - Seven beautiful girls from Korean rock band T-Ara will star in a video shoot for popular gameshow “Let’s Go Dream Team” at Vietnam’s tallest building, the Keangnam Landmark 72, on March 18-21.