Vietnam wins badminton Grand Prix on home soil

Vietnam’s number-one badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh successfully defended Sunday his title at Yonex Sunrise Vietnam Open, a Grand-Prix-level tournament, after beating Japanese rival Takuma Ueda in the final of this year's edition at Phan Dinh Phung Sports Hall in Ho Chi Minh City.

Minh, seeded first and ranking 14th in the world, overpowered world number 35 Ueda to win 21-14 in the first game within twenty minutes before 3,000 spectators, who had come two and a half hours prior to the match to support the host athlete.

The Vietnamese concluded the finale thirty minutes later as he narrowly defeated his opponent 21-19 in the second, which witnessed a stubborn resistance from the guest player.

Minh burst into tears after the victory, which brought him the fourth Vietnam Open championship in five years. He previously won it in 2008, 2009, and 2011.

The 2012 title is really meaningful to him, Minh told Tuoi Tre newspaper after the clash.

“It helps ease pressure on me after a series of losses, especially the one at London 2012,” Minh said.

Minh attended the 2012 Olympic Games, closing earlier this month in the UK, as one of the Vietnamese medal hopefuls, but he was eliminated right in the group stage.

The athlete was presented with a US$3,750 cash prize together with a VND30 million ($1,440) bonus from the chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Badminton Federation and VND10 million ($480) from the sponsor Yonex.

The Yonex Sunrise Vietnam Open 2012 tourney included five events: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles.

Thailand won the women’s singles and the men’s doubles while Indonesia came first in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles.