Minh advances to second round of Hanoi Challenge

HA NOI (VNS)— The No 1 seed, Nguyen Tien Minh advanced to the second round of the Ciputra Hanoi – Yonex Sunrise Vietnam International Challenge yesterday in the capital city’s Cau Giay Gymnasium.

The Vietnamese world No 10 took just 48 minutes to beat Malaysian Vincent Cheng Wei Phuah 21-13, 21-11.

His next rival will be Ginting Anthony of Indonesia who defeated Vipul Saini of India 21-12, 21-12.

The first day of competition also saw most of the seeded athletes earning victories, except the No 16 seed, Pham Cao Cuong of Viet Nam.

June Wei Chiem of Malaysia surprised everyone in the afternoon with a perfect victory over Cuong 21-17, 21-13 in just 45 minutes.

The No 3 seed, Tzu Wei Wang from Chinese Taipei beat Thailand’s Tankmanustong Warut 21-11, 21-7.

Another Chinese Taipei player, Chia-hsin Wan, sent Malaysian Winson Neo packing home after a 21-10, 21-19 defeat.

Other Vietnamese players who will be part of the second round are Nguyen Dinh Tuan Kiet, Le Ha Anh, Do Tuan Duc, Nguyen Hoang Nam, and qualifiers Truong Thanh Long and Vo Bao Thien.

On the women’s side, two local seeds, Le Thu Huyen, No 3 and Vu Thi Trang, No 4, also grabbed their berths.

Huyen battled from behind to win 11-21, 21-15, 21-11 over Zii Yii Lee of Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Trang faced no difficulty to trounce Taipei’s Wen Chi Hsu 21-14, 21-13.

The biggest surprise of the day came from Phasita Wathanayomnaporn of Thailand. She defeated No 1 seed, Chia Hsin Lee of Taipei in a crucial match that ended 21-18, 12-21, 21-12.

The annual Ciputra Hanoi Challenge has lured nearly 300 athletes of 13 teams competing in five categories: singles and doubles matches for men and women and mixed doubles.

The event, endorsed by the Badminton World Federation and Badminton Asia Confederation, will conclude on Sunday.

The winners will walk away with up to 4,000 points that will help in improving their world rankings.

Last year, Malaysian Kwong Beng Chan and Hana Ramadhini of Singapore took the men’s and women’s singles titles.

Badminton fans can watch the matches for free at the stadium. The matches will also be aired live on local television channels. — VNS

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