Tien Minh through to main round of Swiss Open

(13-03-2008)

HA NOI — Viet Nam’s top badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh secured a ticket to the main round of the $200,000 Wilson Badminton Swiss Open after winning twice in the qualifying round on Tuesday in Basel, Switzerland.

Minh, who is ranked 37th in the world, defeated Spain’s Pablo Abian – seeded 50th – 21-13, 21-17 in just 29 minutes in his second qualifier. Despite going ahead 10-7 in the first set, the Spaniard, who beat Ireland’s Scott Evans 21-18, 23-21 in his first match, was soon overwhelmed. The second set, was a more one-sided affair, despite a spirited come back by Abian when he trailed 5-12.

In his first qualifying match, Minh beat Rajiv Ouseph of England (53rd in the world) 21-17, 21-16, also in 29 minutes.

The Vietnamese national champion had been scheduled to meet 33rd seed Andrew Dabeka of Canada but the schedule was changed when Denmark’s Peter Gade (world No 2), was forced to withdraw after suffering an asthma attack.

Today Minh will meet South Korea’s Lee Hyun-il, the world No 10, whom he defeated 21-16, 14-21, 21-12 in the 15th Asian Games’ team event two years ago in Doha.

Last week, Minh gave the world No 7 and reigning Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia a run for his money before losing 17-21, 21-15, 19-21.

Hoang said after the match that Minh in theory had now earned enough points to qualify for the Beijing Olympics in August.

The Swiss Open is the last European tournament Minh will take part in before flying to Malaysia for the Asian Badminton Championship next month.

In other Swiss Open matches, Petr Koukal of the Czech Republic beat India’s Chetan Anand 21-16, 21-19. Dicky Payama, who is the tournament’s 4th seed, trounced Eric Pang of the Netherlands 21-15, 18-21, 22-20.

The final will take place on March 16. — VNS