VietNamNet Bridge – Tien Minh could not enter the semifinal of the Yonex Open Japan 2012 after being trounced by Hong Kong’s Hu Yun in the quarter-final game today, September 21.

At the Yonex Open Japan tournament this year, Tien Minh had a big advantage. According to the initial draw, Tien Minh would face the world number one player Lee Chong Wei in the second round. However, many Chinese players withdrew from the tournament so the organizing board held another draw. Accordingly, Tien Minh did not have to meet strong rivals in the early rounds. He easily moved into the quarterfinals.

However, it seems that this year Vietnam’s top badminton player did not have good form. In the first two games, despite facing weaker opponents, Tien Minh was hard to win.

In the second round yesterday, September 20, he had to wait to the third set to avoid a loss against his Malaysian rival.

However, luck did not smile at Tien Minh in the 3rd match in the quarterfinals just ending a few minutes ago. Although he tried at best, Minh could not overcome Hong Kong’s Hu Yun (16th in the world.) He had to hang up the racquet after two sets. Hu Yun is not a new rival to Tien Minh. In the six encounters, they won three games each.

At the Yonex Open Japan 2012, Hu Yun made a big surprise by beating No. 2 seed Peter Gade (Denmark). With extremely impressive performance and the advantage of height (180cm), Hu Yun was predicted to enter the semi-finals.

In fact, Tien Minh has shown his best effort. In set one, the Vietnamese player constantly led the game. Unfortunately, at the decisive moment, he made a mistake and his opponent immediately scored two points. Minh accepted a 22-24 failure in the first set.

In the second set, Tien Minh again took the lead, but the mental and physical impairments prevented him from maintaining his advantage. The set ended at the score 15-21. Minh lost 0-2 after 41 minutes of competition.

It is a failure to Minh this year because he could not enter the semi-finals though all three opponents have lower positions than Tien Minh’s in the rankings. This shows that Tien Minh will surely face difficulties in the upcoming competitions.

After the Yonex Open Japan, Tien Minh will participate in the national individual championship, which will open on September 24 in Thanh Hoa, then the Taiwan Open, to be held from October 2 to 7.

S. Tung