While members of a women’s rights group in Ukraine have been stripping to their waist to protest against the month-long Euro 2012 to be co-hosted between their country and Poland, two Vietnamese models have done something different: they wear body painting to welcome the championship.

Models Sella Truong and Tu Hanh Van exposed their curvy body under paintwork featuring the national flags of the two co-hosts of the European football championship, which kicks off tonight.

Truong, who also played in several TV series and wide-screen movies, has her body painted white and red to represent Poland; while Van, who earlier this year debuted on the silver screen with a role in the badly-reviewed "Cam Hung Hoan Hao” (The Perfect Inspiration), chooses the yellow of Ukraine.

The photo shoot was spread widely amongst local newswires, but audience responses were aimed at discouraging to the two models.

"The photos are unnatural, not real body painting art, and Photoshop-intervened,” netizens said on certain websites.

As the two are not really well-known in the local show business, some also see the photos as an attempt to spread their names and images.

Below are some photos published by 2sao.net newswire:

Sella Truong

 

 

                                                                                                    Ukraine's Femen group

Meanwhile, the Kiev-based Femen women's rights group has conducted several protests against the Euro tournament, including grabbing the championship’s cup when it was on display in mid-May.

The group believes the Euro-2012 soccer tournament being played in Ukraine will encourage sex tourism, according to a Reuters report.

On May 13, one Femen member strode up to the silver trophy, which was on display as a tourist attraction in an open air exhibition in central Kiev, ostensibly to be photographed alongside it like hundreds of other sightseers, Reuters reported.

Ukrainian police detain an activist from women's rights group Femen as she enacts a performance in central Kiev May 31, 2012. Photo: Reuters

The woman then pulled down her red T-shirt to reveal the words "Fuck Euro 2012" scrawled on her torso.

She was later seized by security guards, who appeared to have had advanced warning of the protest.

A feminist protested against the European 2012 football championships being held in Ukraine by trying to pinch the trophy. Report by Sam Homewood.