Vietnam’s teenage tennis sensation Nguyen Hoang Thien is expected to bring home good news

Vietnam’s emerging tennis hope, Nguyen Hoang Thien, will fly to Malaysia today to compete at the Malacca ITF International Grade 4 Junior Championship 2009 to take place next week.

The Under 18 championship is part of the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

Thirteen-year old Thien aims to go as far as he can in a tournament with many older and more experienced players, and go on to play other regional and international tournaments.

After Malaysia, Thien plans to fly to Indonesia to play in the Under 14 Asian Championships-Group 1, to be held from March 17-31. Thien hopes to do well as he is among the top six Asian junior players.

Thien later plans to participate in the U18 ITF Group 4 tournament in the US in May. It is a very hard tournament but he will have the opportunity to improve himself.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s senior tennis players Do Minh Quan, Ngo Quang Huy, Huynh Mai Huynh and Tran Thi Tam Hao will compete at the Thailand Open PTT Cup 2009 in Chonburi from March 13-20.

Thailand’s annual tennis tournament is offering prize money of 500,000 baht (US$13,900) this year.

Last year, Quan and Mai Huynh were crowned at the tournament, but it is going to be very difficult for them to defend their titles, as the Thai players have just returned from a training trip in the US and will be keen not to lose at home again.

Reported by Nhat Quynh