VietNamNet Bridge - Ho Chi Minh City will spend US$30,000 to train young tennis star Nguyen Hoang Thien, Mai Ba Hung, deputy director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said Tuesday.

Out of an estimated VND7 billion ($350,000) that will be spent on training several young players, almost a tenth will be invested in Thien to help him become a professional player soon.

Thien’s talents were discovered by his father when he started playing tennis at the age of eight.

In 2005, when he was 10, he went to Florida, the US, to the Sharde Brook Tennis Institute. After a year in the US, Thien had his own coach, Indian-American Ashok S. Bikkannavar.

In 2008 Thien won the Asian U14 title in Bahrain, India, and South Korea, and the ATF Binh Duong U18 tournament at home.

Thien is now the youngest in the ATP’s top 400.

He hopes to crack the top 200 in the men’s ranking this year.

Source: Tuoi Tre