China's hosting of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games indicates increasingly closer solidarity between China and the world in general and brotherly Vietnam, said Le Buu, one of the 60 Beijing Olympic torch bearers in Vietnam 's southern Ho Chi Minh City .

"I hope that Vietnamese people support Olympics. Those who don't support Olympics don't love sports, peace, friendship and international solidarity," said Le Buu, who is aged 74 and perhaps the eldest torchbearers in the city, in an interview with Xinhua.

"I'm very pleased and honoured to be selected as a torchbearer, maybe the eldest among the 60 torchbearers," said he, former head of Vietnam 's General Directorate of Physical Culture and Sports (now the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports).

Buu participated in Olympic Games in Russia in 1980 and in South Korea in 1988 as a sports official.

He predicted that Vietnam will bag home bronze medals at the world's biggest sports event in Beijing in August.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Beijing Olympic torch relay will start from the Opera House in the city center and conclude at a stadium near the Tan Son Nhat International, covering a route of 10-13 kilometers.

This is also the last leg of the Olympic flame's global journey outside China. After completing the Ho Chi Minh city torch relay, the Flame will head to Hong Kong, China.

(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2008)