Nguyen Tien Minh. — File Photo

HA NOI  (VNS) —Viet Nam's top badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh will find himself facing stronger rivals when the draw for the US$500,000 Maybank Malaysian Open Superseries from March 31-April 5 is released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF)).

World No 22 Minh is in quarter two and will meet a qualifying round winner in the first round, where he is predicted to win.

In the next round, the Olympian Minh will meet tough rival Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark, world No 9, who entered the quarter final in Yonex BWF World Championships in 2011.

If Minh is lucky enough to go on, world No 2 and All-England runner-up Jan O. Jorgensen of Denmark and world No 3, Lin Dan of China, are waiting for him.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese player Vu Thi Trang, world No 49, will meet Porntip Buranaprasertsu of Thailand, No 21, in the first round. If Trang qualifies, she will face world No 2 Wang Shixian of China in the next round. — VNS