Nguyen Hoang Nam and Pham Cao Cuong have received wildcards to compete at the Yonex-Sunrise Viet Nam Open badminton tournament following the draw yesterday in HCM City.

In the first round which kicks off on Monday, Nam, the world No 311, will play No 7 seed Won Ho-son of South Korea, while world No 227 Cuong will face Chi Hung Lu from Chinese Taipei.

Yunus Alamsyah of Indonesia, who is ranked 36th in the world, is seeded 1, followed by Chung Seang Tan of Malaysia and Yan Kit Chan of Hong Kong.

Viet Nam's world No 8 Nguyen Tien Minh withdrew from the event to compete at the 27th SEA Games. As the hosts, Viet Nam have nine male representatives who had to start in the qualifying round.

In the women's event, top national players Vu Thi Trang and Le Thu Huyen have been drawn in the main round.

Trang, a Youth Olympic bronze medallist, will face Hung Shih Han from Chinese Taipei. Huyen, who has made great progress recently, will play Lin Ying Chun, also from Taipei.

Top seeds Febby Angguni, Hera Desi and Maria Febe Kusumastuti all are from Indonesia.

The Viet Nam Open, a Badminton World Federation Super Series event, will also feature doubles competitions.

The annual tournament has lured more than 230 athletes from 13 teams. The finals are scheduled for December 8. — VNS