VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese badminton is hoping that two players will qualify for the Olympic Games in London – world No 7 Nguyen Tien Minh and Vu Thu Trang, who won bronze at the Singapore Youth Olympics last year.

It would be Minh’s second Olympic Games in a row. His participation next year in international Super Series of 10-12 competitions and the Grand Prix should see him hold his world ranking, though his recent loss to Japanese Sho Sasaki at the Denmark Open and to Danish Peter Hoeg Gade have shown his weak points.

“I was not trained methodically before I became professional at age 19,” Minh said. “I won competitions by agility and strength. Now at the age of 28 I have difficulty maintaining this way of playing.”

Trang’s hopes for an Olympic berth are also fraught with difficulties. She has not achieved much since her win at the Youth Olympics. Trang ranks 154th in the world which is not high enough to qualify for the Olympics.

Trang, 19, has lacked financial support to get to competitions until now and will rely on government funding to participate in the six to eight international competitions to come, to gain the points she needs to improve her position and chances of qualifying.

The names of the 172 players who will go to the Olympics will be published at the end of June, said the World Badminton Federation.

In 2008, Minh and Le Ngoc Nguyen Nhung were defeated in the first round in Beijing Olympics.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News