Winners of 2015 Victory Cup Awards announced

Winners of the 2015 Victory Cup Awards were announced at a ceremony in Hanoi on January 15, with chess master Le Quang Liem and swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien receiving the ‘Best Male Athlete’ and ‘Best Female Athlete’ titles.

Saturday, January 16, 2016 05:06

Swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien wins the 'Best Female Athlete' category of the 2015 Victory Cup Awards. (Credit: thethao24.tv)

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Quang Liem underwent a successful 2015; he was crowned champion of several events including the 2015 SPICE Cup in the US, the 5th HDBank Cup International Open Chess Tournament and the Zone 3.3 qualifying round of the 2015 FIDE World Chess Cup, he also claimed second-place in the Millionaire Chess Tournament in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, Anh Vien surpassed other brilliant nominees to claim the women’s title with a stunning collection of nearly 50 medals, including eight gold medals at the 28^th SEA Games; two silver and one bronze at the FINA Swimming World Cup, a medal of each colour at the 6th CISM Military World Games; and seven gold, five silver and one bronze at the Southeast Asian Age-Group Championships.

Vien is the only Vietnamese athlete so far to achieve three Olympic standards, qualifying in the 400m freestyle, 400m medley and 200m medley disciplines, and also the first Vietnamese athlete to be honoured as one of Asia’s five best female swimmers by famous US magazine Swimswam.

It is the second individual award Vien has received for her outstanding performance in 2015. Earlier on January 12, she was named Vietnamese athlete of the year with an amazing 1,031 points, far passing the next two closest athletes, Nguyen Thi Huyen (athletics) with 619 points and Ly Hoang Nam (tennis) with 595 points.

Female chess player Nguyen Le Cam Hien scored a dual honour; named winner of the ‘Most Popular Athlete’ and ‘Best Young Athlete’ categories – a rewarding recognition for the world U-8 crown she won at the FIDE World Youth & Cadets Chess Championships in Greece last year.

Athletics trainer Vu Ngoc Loi won the ‘Best Trainer of the Year’ title, while the Vietnam fencing team was voted as ‘Team of the Year’ for it’s collection of eight gold, two silver and one bronze medal at the 28^th SEA Games.

Veteran shooter Dang Thi Dong won the ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award for her significant contribution to Vietnamese shooting.

In addition, the organising committee presented the ‘Most Impressive Sports Moment of 2015’ to the supporter group of Quang Ninh Coal football club for their charity activities.