VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s leading badminton player, Nguyen Tien Minh (the world’s No.8) could not enter the final of the Malaysia Grand Prix Gold Tournament 2011, after being defeated 1-2 by Bao Chunlan in the semi-final on May 7.

This is Tien Minh’s fourth consecutive failure against the Chinese rival.

After the first unsuccessful set (12-21), Tien Minh played very well in the second set and won 21-19.

In the decisive set, Tien Minh was ahead in points, with 8-4 and 12-9. However, Bao Chunlai (the world’s No. 11) tied and won the game for 21-14.

To get into the semi-final, Tien Minh beat Indian Pawar Anand, Chinese player Yuekun Chen, Malaysian player Hafiz Hashim and Indonesian Kuncoro Sony Dwi.

The Malaysia Grand Prix Gold Tournament takes place from May 3-8, with a total bonus of $120,000. This is the second time Tien Minh played in Malaysia. Earlier, the HCM City player participated in the Super Series in early 2011, and entered the quarter-final round.