Top Vietnamese badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh climbed seven places to 36th position with 35,050 points in the latest world rankings announced by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on March 31.  

Nguyen Tien Minh

The 32 year old shuttler performed outstandingly, powering into the semifinals at the recent 2016 New Zealand Grand Prix Gold, which added nearly 300 points to his world rating.

Despite stopping in the second round of the New Zealand tournament, Vietnam’s no.1 female player Vu Thi Trang also jumped up one notch to sit 46th in the world with 27,822 points.

Both Minh and Trang are striving to accumulate points, aiming to secure berths in the Rio Olympic Games this August.

Tien Minh is almost sure to be eligible for the world’s largest sporting event in Brazil this summer, thereby becoming the first Vietnamese athlete to compete in the Olympics three times in a row.

Chen Long of China continued to lead the men’s rankings with an amazing score of 92,351 points, while Carolina Marin of Spain reigned atop the women’s section with 89,550 points.

Nhan Dan