Viet Nam's Nguyen Tien Minh failed to make it past the first round of the Djarum Indonesia Open badminton tournament in Jarkarta yesterday.

Minh lost 19-21, 15-21 to world number three Pengyu Du in 48 minutes.

It was the fourth time the players have met. Minh, who is the world number nine but was unseeded for the tournament, had won two out of three of his previous clashes with his Chinese rival. Last year Minh reached the third round while Du took the silver medal.

The tournament, which has a total of US$700,000 in prize money up for grabs, has lured the top ten players in the global rankings.

Categories at the competition include men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles.

The finals are scheduled for June 16.-VNS