It took the former No. 5 world ranked player only 27 minutes to down Navickas 21-9 and 21-12. Minh will face Kanta Tsuneyama from Japan on Sunday, who is currently placed 90th on the world rankings.

Meanwhile, other Vietnamese players were defeated in the quarterfinals. In the women's singles, Vu Thi Trang lost to Rira Kawashima from Japan 1-2. In the men's doubles, Pham Hong Nam - Do Tuan Duc lost to K. Antonsen - N. Nohr 0-2, while two pairs Pham Hong Nam - Le Thu Huyen and Do Tuan Duc - Pham Nhu Thao also suffered losses in the mixed doubles’ quarterfinals.

In the latest world rankings announced by the Badminton World Federation (BWF), Minh climbed up one notch to 35th position while Vietnam's top female player Trang maintains the 46th position. The promising doubles team Do Tuan Duc - Pham Nhu Thao jumped up five places, from 78th to 73rd.

Under provisions set by the BWF, the top 38 players in the world will win tickets to the Olympics. However, countries with players in the top 16 will send a maximum of two athletes to participate in the Olympics, while countries with athletes ranked from No. 17 to No. 38 will send only one.

Therefore, the organisers must evict a number of athletes from countries such as China, Hong Kong (China) and Indonesia that have more than two players in the top 38 from the final list of athletes being sent to the Olympics.

According to the provisions, Minh is currently ranked 16th among the players with the right to win tickets to the Olympics, meaning that he almost certainly will be sent to Brazil this summer, becoming the first Vietnamese athlete to compete at the Olympics three times in a row.

Similarly, to Minh, Trang is making steady progress in the race for Olympic tickets. Despite being ranked 46th, she has also made the list of the players being sent to the Olympics.

Olympics organisers and the BWF will finalise the list of athletes for badminton at the world’s largest sporting event according to the world ranking chart published on May 5, 2016.