AFC hails strong action against Vietnam match-fixers

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 (Reuters) The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has applauded the decision by a Vietnam court to jail two former internationals for match-fixing during the 2005 Southeast Asian Games.

Former national team midfielder Le Quoc Vuong was last week jailed for six years and V-league club striker Truong Tan Hai was given a three-year sentence for fixing Vietnam's match against Myanmar in the Philippines.

Six other national team players were given suspended sentences.

After a two-day trial, the eight were found guilty of taking bribes to fix the match so that Vietnam did not beat Myanmar by more than a 1-0 scoreline. Vietnam won 1-0 but lost to Thailand in the final.

Vuong acted as the link between the players and an underground betting house to fix the match in return for 490 million dong (,000).

''We have not received any form of notification of this development from the Vietnam Football Federation {VFF),'' the AFC said in a statement today.

''However, we are encouraged by the strong action taken by the court in dealing with this unfortunate incident, which can only help eradicate the odious threat of corruption in or game and assist the VFF in their dedicated and assertive effort to ensure that football in Vietnam is free of such incidents in the future.'' Among the six given suspended sentences was striker Pham Van Quyen, one of the country's most popular players.

Vietnam has been tainted by a string of match-fixing scandals in the last year.

Any form of gambling is illegal in the communist-run country but widespread police corruption allows underground betting rings to flourish.

Vietnam is one of the four co-hosts - along with Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand - for July's Asian Cup 2007 tournament.

REUTERS SAM PM1616