World No 12 Nguyen Tien Minh won a silver medal at the Yonex Australian Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament yesterday in Sydney.

It was the first final match of the year for Minh who lost 11-21, 12-21 in 53 minutes to China's Chen Jin, the No 1 seed.

It was Minh's fourth loss to Jin, ranked fifth in the world.

Jin received US$9,000 and 7,000 points for the win while Minh enjoyed $4,560 and 5,950 points.-VNS