Nguyen Tien Minh was ranked seventh in the world in January according to the
Badminton World Federation (BWF).

On the up: World No 7 Nguyen Tien Minh has a tough opening match at the South Korean Super Series which starts today in Seoul. (Photo: VNS)

The Vietnamese earned
55,675 points after competing in numerous tournaments.

Minh reached No 6, his
highest ranking to date, last December.

The top place still
belongs to Malaysian Lee Chong Wei who defeated Minh in their previous two
meetings this month.

Minh left for Seoul on
Sunday to compete in his second tournament of the new year, the South Korea
Super Series Premier, which kicks off today, Jan 25.

Despite his high
ranking, the two-time Olympian is not seeded in this US$1.2 million tournament
and will meet the No 4 seed Chen Long from China during the first round.

Chen is a rising world
star, who has defeated both Lee and Olympian and Asian Games champion Lin Dan of
China.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News