NewsDetails_lblContent2″> Nguyen Tien Minh is ready to defend his Grand Prix Gold badminton title after winning his quarter-final match in Taipei yesterday, August 6.

Nguyen Tien Minh.

Minh, the world No 6 and tournament’s No 1, defeated talented Hashim Muhammad Hafiz of Malaysia, who was seeded No 7, 21-19, 21-11 for his berth in the semi-final today.

Minh lost to the Malaysian in two recent games, although he was ranked better than his rival.

Yesterday, it took the Vietnamese Olympian 29 minutes to grab victory and set up the semi-final match against Simon Santoso of Indonesia.

Santoso who is seeded No 3 in Taipei earlier defeated Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 21-17, 21-15.

The other semi-final game will see Dionysius Hayon Rumbaka, another Indonesian, play Shon Wan-ko of South Korea.

Rumbaka passed Wong Wing-ki of Hong Kong 21-13, 17-21, 21-13 while Shon crushed the tournament’s No 2, Sony Dwi Kuncoro from Indonesia, 21-16, 19-21, 21-19.

A semi final win for Rumbaka would be a hard task as his rival was a giant-killer at the tournament. He previously sent No 5, Wong Chong Hann of Malaysia, off home in the third round on Wednesday.

The US$200,000 tournament will conclude tomorrow with a 7,000-point bonus given to the winners.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News