World No 10 badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh of Viet Nam.

HCM CITY (VNS) — The organisers of the Badminton Asia Championships have named Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Minh as the No 3 seed in the absence of the world's top players.

The event starting to day will not see the participation of world No 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, No 2 Chen Long of China and No 4 Kenichi Tago of Japan and No 5 Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia.

Thailand's SEA Games champion Ponsana Boonsak is seeded No 1 and So Wan-ho of South Korea is No 2.

According to a draw conducted recently, Minh will play host athlete Jong Soo-hwang of South Korea in the first-round match of the men's singles category.

His teammates Pham Cao Cuong will face Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei.

Viet Nam have two players in the women's events. Vu Thi Trang will play Thailand's Buranaprasertsuk Porntip, while Le Thu Huyen will meet Lim Yin Fun of Malaysia.

The Vietnamese players will also compete in the doubles events.

The six-day tournament will conclude on Sunday. — VNS