LookAtVietnam – Nguyen Tien Minh failed to go to the next round of the Djarum Indonesia Super Series after losing 1-2 to Peter Hoeg Gade of England yesterday, June 18 in Indonesia.

Nguyen Tien Minh.

The second set seemed perfect for Olympian Minh as he led 4-0 then 5-1.

However, the 33-year-old Gade confirmed his ranking of second seed in the tournament when at the 6-3 mark he grabbed 11 straight points to lead 14-6. The score then went to 20-14 for Gade before Minh narrowed it to 19-20.

However, the Vietnamese top player Minh, who had not had training and physique coaches for several months, went down under Gade’s strong forehand at the decisive stage, losing 19-21.

The Briton finished the third set in 55 minutes to win 21-14.

Gade’s next rival will be Indonesian Taufik Hiayat, seeded No 5, who defeated Boonsak Ponsana from Thailand 21-10, 21-15 yesterday.

After Minh’s failure, Viet Nam had no more contenders at the Open.

In other activities of the men’s single pool, host rival Sony Dwi Kuncoro won 21-8, 21-12 over Choong Han Wong of Malaysia. Hong Kong’s Yan Kit Chan beat Joachim Persson 24-22, 21-13.

No 1 Lee Chong Wei was to play his countryman Muhammad Hafiz Hashim while No 3 Lin Dan of China was to meet with Yu Hsing Hsieh of Chinese Taipei in the later matches yesterday.

The two are expected to make up an early final and face each other in the semi-final round.

On the women’s side, China sent four representatives to the 1/8 round of the tournament yesterday.

After the shock defeat of the event’s No 1, Mi Zhou from Hong Kong, to Japanese Sayaka Sato in the first round, Chinese Wang Yidan became the top athlete here and did not meet any obstacle from Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand, winning 21-16, 21-5.

Later, her countrywoman Wang Lin followed with an easy win, her rival Adriyanti Firdasari of Indonesia retiring in the second set.

Former world champion Xie beat Rachel Van Cutsen 21-6, 21-15 while Lu Lan beat Zhu Lin 21-13, 21-11 in an all-Chinese match.

Lu will play Wang Yihan in the first quarter-final match today while Xie and Wang Lin who her rivals were until late matches yesterday.

The Indonesia tournament has drawn more than 260 players in five categories of men’s and women’s singles and double and mixed doubles event. The finals are scheduled for Sunday with the winners getting bonuses of US$250,000.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News