Nguyễn Tiến Minh

Nguyễn Tiến Minh
Personal information
Birth name	Nguyễn Tiến Minh
Country	Vietnam
Born	(1983-02-12) February 12, 1983 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	59 kg (130 lb; 9.3 st)
Handedness	Right
Men's singles
Highest ranking	5 (November, 2010; August 15, 2013)
Current ranking	39 (November 1 ,2016[1])
Medal record Representing  Vietnam Men's badminton SEA Games 2005 Manila Men's team 2007 Nakhon Ratchasima Men's singles 2013 Naypyidaw Men's singles BWF World Championships 2013 Guangzhou Men's Singles
BWF profile

Nguyễn Tiến Minh (born February 12, 1983 in Ho Chi Minh City) is a male badminton player from Vietnam. His best achievement to date is a bronze medal at the World Badminton Championship in 2013.

Career

Introduced to badminton by his father at the early age of 10, Minh was immediately captivated by the sport. The interest soon developed into a passion which led to Minh's crucial decision in 2001 when the athlete was 18 years old: to take on the path of becoming a professional badminton player instead of carrying on his education as his family wished. The young man's determination soon demonstrated its fruitful aspects when Minh was recruited into the national team in the same year. However, Minh's career did not become well known nationwide until 2002 when he, at the age of 19, defeated the long time national champion, Phu Cuong Nguyen, and won the gold medal for the men's singles category.

Nevertheless, despite Minh's quick progress, the badminton player was receiving a salary of less than 150 US dollars a month, as most Vietnamese athletes were at the time. After years of contributing to the nation's sport team, while his ranking has been progressing significantly and rapidly, Minh's income has only been increased by around 50 dollars. Vietnamese athletes, with incomes much higher than that of Minh's, normally have specially assigned specialists to look after their every aspect, such as diet, injuries, and endurance training, not to mention all the top ranking sporting facilities provided for by the government. On the other side of the scale, Minh has been trained in an environment with nothing but poor equipment and has to rely mostly on his family's financial support, the effort of his few coaches, and the contributions of his team mates.

Minh is portrayed by a common description in his home country, "the athlete with a herculean progress".

World Championship 2013

Minh came into the world championship seeded #7. His previous best achievement at a world championship was to get to the quarter-final round at the 2011 championship in London, where he lost to Peter Gade of Denmark in three sets.

The first match was an easy affair (21-8 21-11) against the New Zealand player Joe Wu, who ranked 110.

The second match against the German Dieter Domke turned out to be quite tight. Minh started well, but then faded, and almost lost the first set. He was able to close out the set 24-22 though. Minh then won the second set 21-17.

In the next round, Minh played the Spaniard Pablo Abián. Minh lost the first set 15-21, but came back strongly and easily won the next two sets 21-9 21-10

The quarterfinal match between Minh and Jan O Jorgensen, rank #9, was a three-setter. Both players knew a lot was at stake here: the winner not only got to the semi-final, but would also be guaranteed a medal (the two losers in the semi-final both win bronze medals). That would be the first medal for both players at a world championship. Minh won in three set match (21-8, 17-21, 22-20). He became the first Vietnamese to win a medal at the world championship.

In the semi-final against Lin Dan, Minh lost 17-21 15-21. Despite the semi-final loss, the bronze medal was still a huge success for Tien Minh.

Immediately after the championship, Minh was nominated by the governmental sports authority of Vietnam (the TCTDTT - Bureau of Sports and Physical Activities) for an Order of Labor, 2nd class.^[2] Minh had been awarded the Order of Labor, 3rd class in 2011, also for his achievements and excellency in the field of sports.

Awards

• Voted and awarded by the press as the Distinctive Athlete of Ho Chi Minh City in 2004
• Voted and awarded by the press as one of the Distinctive Athletes of Vietnam in 2004, 2007, and 2008
• Awarded with the Certificate of Satisfactory Progress by the Ho Chi Minh City’s People Committee in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
• National champion in the men's singles in 2002, 2004-2012.
• Bronze Medal for Men's Singles at Wang Lao Ji BWF World Championships 2013

Achievements

Career performances (16 titles, 6 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Tournament	Opponent in final	Score
1	2016[3]	Ciputra Hanoi - Yonex Sunrise Vietnam International Challenge 2016	Wang Tzu-Wei	22-20, 21-16
2	2016[4]	Finnish Open[5]	Kanta Tsuneyama	10-21, 14-21 [6]
1	2015	Sydney International Challenge	Zulfadli Zulkiffli	21-11, 21-12
2	2015	Russian White Nights International Challenge	Vladimir Malkov	16-21, 12-21
1	2014	US Open Grand Prix Gold	Chou Tien-chen	21-19, 14-21, 21-19
1	2014	Vietnam International Challenge	Tan Chun Seang	21-17, 21-13
3	2013	2013 BWF World Championships	Lin Dan	17-21, 15-21
2	2013	Chinese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold	Shon Wan-ho	21-19, 9-21, 18-21
1	2013	US Open Grand Prix Gold	Wong Wing Ki	18-21, 21-17, 21-18
1	2012	Chinese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold	Chou Tien-chen	21-11, 21-17
1	2012	Vietnam Open Grand Prix	Takuma Ueda	21-14, 21-19
2	2012	Australia Open Grand Prix Gold	Chen Jin	11-21, 12-21
2	2011	US Open Grand Prix Gold	Sho Sasaki	17-21, 18-21
1	2011	Vietnam Open Grand Prix	Sho Sasaki	21-13, 21-17
1	2010	Australia Open Grand Prix (*)	Krishnan Yogendran	21-14, 21-11
1	2009	Vietnam Open Grand Prix	Chong Wei Feng	21–7, 19–21, 21–14
1	2009	Chinese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold	Wong Choong Hann	21-11, 21-14
1	2009	Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold	Boonsak Ponsana	21-16, 21-13
1	2009	Vietnam International Challenge 2009 [7]	Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka	21 - 13, 21 - 15 [8]
1	2008	Vietnam Open Grand Prix	Chan Yan Kit	24-22, 21-18
1	2008[9]	Vietnam Challenge 2008[10]	Chong Wei Feng	21 - 17, 10 - 21, 26 - 24 [11]
1	2004	Malaysia Satellite 2004[12]	Lee Tsuen Seng	15 - 11, 9 - 15, 15 - 12 [13]
2	2004[14]	Vietnam Satellite 2004[15]	Hyun Suk Ahn	15 - 13, 9 - 15, 10 - 15 [16]

     BWF World Championships tournament

     Super Series Premier tournament

     Super Series tournament

     Grand Prix Gold tournament

     Grand Prix tournament

     International Challenge tournament

(*) The Australia Open tournament is not elevated to Gold status until 2011

Record Against Selected Opponents, Head-to-head vs. top 20 ranked players

Includes results from all competitions 2005–present.^[17]

References

External links

• BWF Player Profile