HCM City —(VNS )Nguyen Tien Minh won a bronze medal to push himself up to No5 in the world rankings following success at the World Badminton Championships which closed yesterday in Guangzhou, China.

The 30-year-old lost 17-21, 15-21 to Olympic champion Dan Lin of China on Saturday in a 49-minute semi-final match.

Lin went on to take the title as Malaysian rival Lee Chong Wei retired because of hurt.

It was the first time Minh had reached a world championships semi-final and the bronze was both his and Viet Nam's best ever result.

On the women's side, Thai teenager Ratchanok Intanon took the title yesterday, beating Olympic champion Li Xuerui 22-20, 18-21, 21-14 in a massive upset.

Ratchanok, 18, becomes the first ever Thai player to win gold at the world championships after defeating 22-year-old top seed Li, who was gunning for her first world title.-VNS