Vietnamese badminton star Nguyen Tien Minh is seeded third in the men's singles event at the 2019 Ciputra Hanoi international badminton tournament.

Inspired by his superior level and the crazy support from the home fans at Hanoi’s Tay Ho district gymnasium, third-seeded Tien Minh needed just over 30 minutes to see off the Malaysian competitor, who is 126 places behind him in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings.

Next up for the former world no. 5 will be a second-round encounter against the winner of the match between Chia Hao Lee (Chinese Taipei, world no. 138) and Nyoman Trydrnya Arya (Indonesia, world no. 448).

Eighth seeded Pham Cao Cuong, Vietnam’s no. 2 shuttler and world no. 89, hardly broke a sweat to defeat world no. 318 Outhong Ruttanapak (Thailand) 2-0 (21-17, 28-26) in another clash on the same day to book a place in the second round.

The annual tournament is taking place from April 10 to 14 with the participation of 292 players, including 169 men and 123 women, from 18 countries and territories worldwide. Chinese Taipei is sending the most shuttlers to the event (51), while the Mauritius delegation are debutants.

Vietnam is represented by most of its prominent players, including Nguyen Tien Minh, Pham Cao Cuong, Nguyen Thuy Linh, Vu Thi Trang, Do Tuan Duc and Pham Nhu Thao. Particularly, Do Tuan Duc and Pham Nhu Thao are the reigning mixed doubles champions of the tournament, and the highest-ranked pair competing in the mixed doubles category this year.

The tournament offers US$25,000 in total prize money, with the men’s and women’s singles champions receiving US$1,875 each, while a stake of US$1,975 will be awarded to each of the winners of the men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles divisions.

Nhan Dan