HÀ NỘI — The upcoming International Women’s Volleyball Tournament, VTV Cup Tôn Hoa Sen 2017, will be a warm-up for the Vietnamese team to prepare for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Malaysia in August.

The event will be held in the northern province of Hải Dương on July 8-15 with the participation of seven teams, namely Việt Nam’s national team, Việt Nam’s junior team, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, South Korea and China.

The teams will be divided into two groups. The best two teams from each group will proceed to the semi-finals.

“Việt Nam’s national team will try their best in each match in this tournament. This is a chance for us to test our players for the SEA Games,” said coach Nguyễn Quốc Vũ.

According to Vũ, Việt Nam is putting forward a strong team this year. Especially, key players such as Nguyễn Linh Chi, Phạm Thị Kim Huệ, Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Hoa, Hà Ngọc Diễm and Trần Thị Thanh Thúy are in good form.

35-year-old Huệ helped her team, Vietinbank, win the national title for the first time last year. In the first leg of the National Volleyball Championship 2017, she is still one of the best players of the event.

Hoa currently plays for Bangkok Glass of Thailand. She helped the Thai team win the national title in 2015 and 2016, and win the 2015 Asian Women’s Club Volleyball Championship. Last year, Bangkok Glass finished third in the Asian tournament.

Việt Nam hope to defend their silver medal which they won at the Games two years ago in Singapore.

The VTV Cup winner will receive a prize of US$10,000. The runners-up will get $7,000 and $5,000, respectively. Other individual prizes will be granted to the most valuable player, the most outstanding hitter, the best libero, and a special title for the tournament’s beauty queen. All matches will be broadcast live on the VTV6 channel.

Việt Nam have won the event four times, in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2014. Last year, Chonburi of Thailand took the title after defeating Việt Nam 3-0 in the final. — VNS