VN news in brief

[AnHai Doan <anhai@cs.washington.edu>]

Vietnamese table-tennis ranks 44th in the world

At the International Table-Tennis Championship 1997 which recently
concluded in Manchester (U.K.), the Vietnamese table-tennis men's
team was ranked 44/114 while the women's team was ranked 34/85.

These were considered successful "smashes" for both the men's and
women's teams from Vietnam compared with previous championships. In
the eliminating round, the men's team with Vu Manh Cuong, Le Huy and
Doan Kien Quoc won four matches and lost one match to Bulgaria, and
were therefore in line for competitions for the ranks between 41 and
56. In this phase, after five consecutive wins over Scotland (3/1),
Brazil (3/0), Pakistan (3/1), Togo (3/0) and Bosnia (3/2), the
Vietnamese team was defeated by Portugal and was then ranked 44th.

The women's team with Ngo Thu Thuy, Tran Le Phuong Linh and Tran Le
My Linh, who qualified for competitions for the ranks between 33 and
36 won two matches but lost one to Indonesia (2/3) and were then
ranked 34th.

 Photo exhibition in Hanoi

The winning photo album of the 19th contest of the Asia-Pacific
Ocean will be put on display at the Vietnam Culture and Art
Exhibition Center in Hanoi later this month. The exhibition,
organized by the Asia-Pacific Cultural Center for UNESCO (ACCU),
will cover 219 photos by photographers from eight countries,
including Vietnam, which won the 19th contest held in 1996 entitled
"Living Together."

Interpreters of Japanese and Korean are badly needed

Statistics of the Service Company to Foreign Missions (FOSCO) show
that the demand for interpreters of Japanese and Korean is currently
running high but it is hard to meet it. Many applicants have
Japanese language certificates but fail to communicate using it
fluently. Meanwhile, some South Korean directors in HCMC complain
that most of their interpreters of Korean are not experts in this
language, so they often use English instead.

 HCMC opera and symphony delegation to perform in South Korea

A delegation of the HCMC Symphony and Opera Theater will leave for
Pusan (South Korea) on May 15 to take part in the Asian Festival
'97. Fifteen artists of the delegation, including celebrated ones
such as Thao Dung, Huong Giang, Duong Thao and Tan Loc, will present
many traditional dance performances during the week-long course of
the festival, under the leadership of the head of the delegation,
director of the theater, Tran Tan Loc.

 Hue-style royal music takes part in International Council of Asian Music

The Hue Royal Art Company with 12 members led by Mr. Tran Thanh
Thuong will take part in the second International Council of Asian
Music to be held in Seoul (South Korea) between May 15-16. The
meeting will be organized by the National Center for Traditional Art
Activities of South Korea to mark the 600th anniversary of the
birthday of South Korean king Sejong. The Vietnamese representatives
have plans to deliver speeches on nha nhac (Hue-style royal music)
and present three performances of this kind of music at the meeting.