Vietnam’s badminton ace, currently ranked 14th in the world, plans to be among the world’s top 10 by the end of the year

Nguyen Tien Minh is already a household name in the country.

Although he has single-handedly put Vietnam on the world badminton map, the 26-year-old Minh has not had time to rest on his laurels as he pursues a top ten ranking.

Currently ranked a very impressive 14th in the world Minh won his first championship abroad at the Satellite Malaysia 2004 when he was 21 years old and ranked 130th. He beat Malaysian Lee Tsuen Seng 2-1 (15/11, 9/15, 15/12) in the final.

Minh took to the sport when he was just 10 years old, and since then has been consistently improving in leaps and bounds. In 2006, Minh said, “I spend 70 percent of my daily time playing badminton.” Now, he says he spends 90 percent of his time training.

While he gets nowhere near the facilities that other top world players enjoy, Minh has received a lot of support from agencies and businesses, not to mention his parents, who are businesspeople.

His father Nguyen Van Thuc said, “We can’t count the money we have spent on him. Each time we register for him on our own to play abroad, the cost is more than VND20 million (US$1,100).

Ho Chi Minh City Badminton Federation (HBF) President Le Dang Xu said, “Minh is a very passionate player and he is very modest. He always wants to improve himself. That’s why he has been able to climb up the world rankings so fast.” In mid 2007, he was ranked 56th and in less than a year later he climbed to 39.

HBF’s former vice president Huynh Ngoc Lien said, “Minh is very professional. He never lets failures defeat him.”

His high spirits have clearly helped a lot. After he was beaten by the then world number two Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia at the Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines in 2005, Minh only worked harder.

Over the last couple of years, Minh has beaten several of the world’s top 10 players. He surprised the badminton world last month by beating World number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia by two games to one at the Singapore Super Series semifinals.

But, he adds, “I was extremely happy after the win over Lee, so I didn’t have time to recover and lost to China’s Bao Chunlai.”

About his loss to Hu Yun of China in the Philippines Open quarterfinals earlier this month, Minh said, “I was overconfident.”

The money trickles in

Minh has made $16,380 from local and international competitions since last September. Now, as a high-ranked player, Minh can now be put in the finals at big competitions without having to play in the qualifiers and he can get bigger prize money.

Upcoming tournaments include the Thailand Open from July 21-26, the World Championships in India from August 10-16, Grand Prix in Taiwan from August 25-30, and the Super Series in Denmark from October 20-25.

Minh said if he plays well at these competitions, he will not only be among the world’s top 10 but also get at least $10,000 in cash prizes. If he can do it, he will be able to earn around $20,000 a year.

In April, Minh received a sponsorship of VND20 million a month for a year from Becamex Company in southern Binh Duong Province.

A month later, Taiwan-based Victor Badminton Racket Corporation agreed to a four-year sponsorship deal worth US$96,000.

Construction Joint Stock Company No. 1 will pay VND10 million ($562) a month from this month till the end of the year, according to HCMC Badminton Federation.

Minh says his clothing still has three positions [shirt collar, belly and shorts] to put an ad on. He now wants to have a representative when he plays abroad. He says it would be good to have someone who can take care of formalities and is good at the sport too so he can train with him and gives him good advice while he is playing. Minh says he really needs a good coach who can help him improve more.

He says he also needs a doctor who can take good care of him. “Most players have doctors who massage them, give them drinks that can help them recover very soon while I can only drink pure water and Vitamin C.”

If he can get the support he is looking for, Minh will have a much better chance of realizing his goals and conquering new heights in his professional career.

Reported by Nhut Quang