VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam badminton pride Nguyen Tien Minh commandingly breezed past Hong Kong rival Wing Ki Wong 2-1 in the US Open finals on Sunday to walk away with his first international crown in 2013.

Defending US Open champion Nguyen Tien Minh.

His spectacular victory put an end to his nine month quest for the BWF championship title following his reign as the supreme titleholder at the Taiwan Open badminton tournament last October.

On his return to Vietnam following the event, Minh provided an interview to the ‘thethaovanhoa.vn’ reporter regarding his US competition and his plans for the coming time.

Congratulation on your stunning US Open crown. How do you evaluate this result? Did you ever think of progressing into the last game prior to the tournament?

Tien Minh: The US Open 2013 is under the BWF Grand Prix Gold system and attracts the participation of many of the world’s top players. For that reason, it is a great honour and a big surprise to me to claim the overall crown.

Prior to the event, I just expected to advance into the quarterfinal or semifinal rounds. However, I got my form back during six days of competition. After reaching the semifinals and finals, I just tried to the best of my ability and whether I won the title or not depended on luck as well.

After a long time of missing out on global titles, did you feel somehow pressed about achievements?

Tien Minh: During the entire competition, what I thought in my mind was just to try my best to overcome each game of play. I always kept my spirit and tried to relax ahead of each match and not feel pressed to win the title.

How is the US Open title meaningful at this moment?

During my career as a badminton player, I have won a championship title like this several times. But perhaps the US Open title is the most significant because of its huge meaning at the present moment.

As you all know, during the last few months, constant injuries have hindered me from getting my best form and from progressing further in big international tournaments. The US Open title serves as a spiritual impetus which inspires me to play confidently and perform well at the upcoming competitions.

On his journey to the title, which moment was the most difficult? Was that the final game against Wing Ki Wong?

Tien Minh: Not only the finals but also other games were tough challenge to me. Maybe, the most difficult time was the Round 1/16 match against Malaysian third seed Tan Chun Seang to whom I had lost twice in the past. After lagging behind in the first set, Tan tied up the game in the second one to make it decided by a decisive match. I had thought unable to continue the battle but finally I managed to conquer it.

After the US Open 2013, what weaknesses do you need to improve? And how will you do that?

Tien Minh: It is certainly a problem of physical strength. Physical strength is always a weakness with a player getting on to the age of 30 like me, which is easily exploited by opponents. My final US Open rival, Wing Ki Wong, is a young player with advantageous physical strength, which posed lot of challenges for me to overcome.

I do need to improve my physical strength in the coming time to get well-prepared for future clashes against young opponents who possess powerful physical strength.

What is your next goal in the coming time?

Tien Minh: There are still many significant badminton tournaments from now to later this year, including the Vietnam Open 2013 and the 27th Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar and most importantly the 2013 BWF World Badminton Championships taking place in China on August 4-11. The China competition is bound to bring about top players of the world and I set a target of reaching the quarterfinal round in the tournament.

Source: Nhan Dan