Nguyen Tien Minh has been seeded third for the coming YONEX-OCBC US Open Grand Prix Gold Championships, to be held at the Orange County Badminton Club, California, USA.

The world No 7 has been ranked behind former Olympic champion Taufik Hydayat from Indonesia and top Thai player Boonsak Ponsana.

Alongside Minh, Nguyen Hoang Nam will also be competing in the men’s singles event while duo Dao Manh Thang and Bui Bang Duc will play in the men’s doubles, as part of the Vietnamese contingent.

The tournament is to kick off on July 11, concluding five days later.

Championship events are set to include men’s and women’s singles and doubles as well as mixed doubles. As part of the total prise money of US$120,000, both men’s and women’s single champions will walk away with $9,000 each.

Draws for the tournament, an Olympic qualifying event, will be carried out next week.

Last year 287 players from 32 countries competed at the event, Britain’s Rajiv Ouseph taking the men’s singles title while Chinese Lin Zhu won the women’s title.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News