VietNamNet Bridge – Top-seeded and world No 9 Nguyen Tien Minh was ousted from the Yonex Sunrise Viet Nam Open Badminton Grand Prix on Friday after unexpectedly losing to Chinese Chen Yeukun.

Top seed Minh to begin Viet Nam Open defence

In the quarter-final match at HCM City's Phan Dinh Phung Gymnasium, Minh, two-time defending champion, made too many mistakes.

Chen, who has a height advantage, played solidly but still lost 21-12.

The beginning of the second set was a similar story. Chen quickly took a large lead until Minh attempted to tie 16-16, from which both players fought for every point.

When the score was 19-all, Minh failed to return a drop from Chen. In the deciding point, after a short rally, Minh pushed a shuttle out and lost the match after 40 minutes.

"I do not know why I made so many mistakes and the shuttle moved too fast and made it difficult for me to control," Minh said later.

In the semi-finals, Chen will face another Chinese, Tian Houwei, who edged past Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia in three sets. The second semi-final match is between Kai Wen and Nan Wei.

China at the helm

Chinese players, most of them about 20 years of age, are at the helm of the singles events.

Besides Tian, Chen and Kai, China also have Wang Zhengming – who overcame Wang Zhengming in the all-Chinese quarter-final match -- in the men's singles semi-finals. Wang will take on Hong Kong's Nan Wei, who beat Malaysia's Lim Fang Yang.

Chinese players also showed superiority in the women's singles with three wins in the quarter-finals to book three of four spots in the semis.

Zhou Hui beat Thailand's Jindapol Nitchaon. Qualifier Yao Xue continued her good form by beating fourth-seeded and defending champion Ratnasari Fransiska of Indonesia.

Classy Xiu Lin also trounced Taipei's Hung Shih Han.

In the mixed doubles, Japanese top-seeded and world No 25 Shintaro Ikeda and Reiko Shiota beat Thailand's Lapoe Thitipong and Munkit Vacharaporn in straight sets.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News