Vietnamese canoeists wait for Olympic wildcard

HANOI, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese canoeists, who failed to qualify for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games after poor performance at the Asian qualifier in Japan last weekend, will wait for a wildcard from the International Canoe Federation, according to local newspaper Vietnam News on Thursday.

The five-member squad, who competed in the men's canoeing singles and doubles in distances of 500 and 1,000 meters, faced tough competition against powerhouses from China, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Japan.

The best results for the team came from Nguyen Van Long and Tran Van Hoan, who finished third in the men's 500-meter canoe doubles with a time of one minute 51.465 seconds.

It is expected that Long and Hoan could have a chance to race at the games if the federation reserves a wildcard for Vietnam.

To date, Vietnam has had four official berths for three taekwondo fighters and one table tennis player; two preference berths for one gymnastics athlete and one shooter; and eight berths for wushu performance.

Vietnam bagged home the first-ever Olympic medal with woman athlete Tran Hieu Ngan taking a taekwondo silver medal at Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.