Nguyen Tien Minh lost quickly
Lin Kuan Ting was born in 2001, currently standing at 135 men's singles in the world, just 32 steps ahead of Tien Minh. But the performance on the field of Tay Ho Gymnasium on the afternoon of March 22 showed that the professional gap between the two current players is very large.
Lin has a tall body, strong competition. He attacked fiercely, constantly launching "fire yard" smashes, making the audience admire. Tien Minh has a forte in defense, but he can only shake his head at the rush of attacks, the ball goes to the field in difficult spots, close to the boundary line. The former number one player in Vietnam rarely has a shuttlecock with more than four touches. He also suffered from mental illness, many times hitting outside or not through the net. Game one was one-sided, with a 21-7 victory for Lin.
Unable to defend, Tien Minh switched to attack, even though it was not his forte. He had a few good smashes, missed the first point of game two, and was applauded by the audience. However, Lin quickly regained the dominant position, continuing to launch powerful smashes, which many viewers had to say that "just hearing the sound is enough". This young player once again ended the game early with a score of 21-6 to win tickets to continue. The Vietnamese audience, at the end of the match, also gave Lin a round of applause.
Losing the match, Tien Minh bid farewell to Vietnam International Challenger - the tournament he once won in 2014. At the age of 40, Tien Minh could no longer maintain his form and often had to leave the tournament early. After 21 years of reigning at the number one position in Vietnam, Tien Minh has also lagged behind junior Nguyen Hai Dang since March 15.
Besides Tien Minh and Hai Dang, the host also has Le Duc Phat competing. Including qualifying, he had three consecutive wins. However, the third round promises many difficulties for Duc Phat, when he meets the number one Korean seed Heo Kwang Hee.
The Vietnam Internal Challenger takes place from March 21 to March 26 at the Tay Ho District Gymnasium, Hanoi. This year's tournament has 309 players from 17 countries and territories, with five events: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. The champion player in each event will receive a prize of 1200 USD, the second prize is 720 USD.
