Nguyen Tien Minh was ranked seventh in the world in January according to the
Badminton World Federation (BWF).

The Vietnamese earned
55,675 points after competing in numerous tournaments.

Minh reached No 6, his
highest ranking to date, last December.

The top place still
belongs to Malaysian Lee Chong Wei who defeated Minh in their previous two
meetings this month.

Minh left for Seoul on
Sunday to compete in his second tournament of the new year, the South Korea
Super Series Premier, which kicks off today.

Despite his high
ranking, the two-time Olympian is not seeded in this US$1.2 million tournament
and will meet the No 4 seed Chen Long from China during the first round.

Chen is a rising star
in the world, who has defeated both Lee Chong Wei and Olympian and Asian Games
champion Lin Dan.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News