Vietnam, which has set an initial target of winning 15-20 berths to Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, is likely to grab a total of only eight places in the global sports event, local newspaper Young People said Friday.

To date, only three Vietnamese athletes, all taekwondo fighters -- Nguyen Van Hung, Hoang Ha Giang and Nguyen Hoai Thu -- have officially secured places at the games slated for August in Beijing.

Local athletes with the clearest prospect of gaining five other berths involve in track and field, weightlifting, and badminton, the newspaper said.

Vietnamese woman sprinter Truong Thanh Hang, high jumper Bui Thi Nhung and sprinter Vu Thi Huong are expected to achieve good results at the third round of 2008 Asian Grand Prix, an annual competition organized by the Asian Athletics Association, slated for June in Vietnam.

The association will choose most outstanding athletes from Asia's major athletic events for partaking in Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

If Vietnam's top badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh remains his position in the world's top 50 in the coming months, he can grab a berth, the newspaper said.

Minh will take part in the qualifying round of 2008 Thomas-Uber Cup, Asian zone, in Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City in mid-February, Germany Open in late February, Switzerland's Super Serie in mid-March, an Indian tournament in early April, and the Badminton Asia Championship 2008.

If weightlifter Hoang Anh Tuan wins the 2008 Asian Weightlifting Championships in March, he will be eligible for attending the games in Beijing.

Vietnam will find it very hard to gain berths at other sports events, including apparatus gymnastics, table tennis, canoeing, rowing, wrestling, fencing, tennis, archery and shooting, the newspaper said.

Vietnam won its first-ever Olympic medal with 26-year-old woman athlete Tran Hieu Ngan taking a taekwondo silver medal at Sydney Olympic Games 2000.

(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2008)