The national team includes some of the strongestathletes — World No 465 Ly Hoang Nam, national champion Pham Minh Tuan, risingstar Trinh Linh Giang and veteran player Le Quoc Khanh under captain TruongQuoc Bao and foreign trainer Tanveer Ashiq.
They took their first training in Hanoi on March27.
“They are currently the best players, and withthe advantage of the home turf, we hope to be promoted to Group II nextseason,” said Bao.
This is the first time such a major tournamentis being organised in the capital after four previous editions in HCM City.
The tournament will see nine teams divided into nine groups. Vietnam, with aworld ranking of 67, are the top seed in Pool A, while Kuwait, World No 73, arethe top seed in Pool B.
A draw will be held on April 1.
They will compete in the round-robin format in the group stage. Two best teamsof each group will advance to the next round. Two winners of this round willjoin Group II in 2019.
Four teams that rank the lowest in the group round will compete in play-offmatches. The two losing teams will be dropped to Group IV.
The tournament will be held at the My DinhAthletics Complex from April 2-7.
Matches will start at 5pm daily and those heldat the centre court will be aired live on The Thao TV, The Thao Tin tuc HDas well as apps such as VTVcab ON and Youtube VTF Media.-VNA