Top Vietnamese players Nguyen Tien Minh and Vu Thi Trang will compete at the Malaysia Masters badminton tournament that will be held in Penang, Malaysia, from January 19 to 24.

Nguyen Tien Minh will compete in the Malaysia Masters tournament in Penang later this month. — Photo ngoisao.net

Minh, world No 40, will play Goh Soon Huat of the host country in the men's singles first-round match.

Trang, world No 53, will face Hsu Ya Ching of Chinese Taipei in the first match of the women's singles event.

Malaysia Masters is part of the BWF Grand Prix Gold Series, which presents US$120,000 to the winners.

Both Vietnamese players were recently named in a draft list of 36 players who will have a chance to compete at this year's Summer Olympics in Brazil.

Although the final list will be released on April 30, their chance to compete is more or less assured as there is a wide gap between them and other players in the running. The only thing that could prevent their departure for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August is injury.

Minh took part in many events in 2015 and won at the Vivo Surdiman tournament in China and the Sydney International tournament in Australia.

Trang had a successful year, winning a title at Vivo Surdiman and Russia's White Nights tournament.

It will be Minh's third and the last time at the Olympics. He will make history as the first Vietnamese player to participate in three Olympics in a row. Meanwhile, Trang will make her debut at the Olympics.

Both of them will continue to compete in different tournaments in the next few months.

They are currently competing in a local tournament at the Kajang Badminton Club in Kuala Lumpur.

VNS