Nguyen Tien Minh drops in world rankings

Top Vietnamese badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh has dropped to 10th in the world badminton rankings, the sport's governing body has announced.

Minh's performance at recent competitions has left him with a total point score of 53,846, causing him to drop one place on the leader board.

Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia is now No 1 with 100,523 points, followed by Chen Long of China on 73,605 points and Kenichi Tago of Japan on 67,674 points.

The Olympian has previously held the world No 5 spot in the rankings.

Minh is the top seed for the men's singles at the fifth Ciputra Ha Noi Yonex Sunrise Viet Nam Challenge International Badminton Championships which kicks off today in Ha Noi.

Vietnam Taekwondo earns 2014 Young Olympics berth

Vietnam’s Taekwondo team has earned a ticket to the Nanjing 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in China after Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy won a silver medal in the women’s 44kg category at the qualifiers in Taiwan (China).

The 26-year-old artist finished second after her 1-5 loss to Panipak Wongphattanakit of Thailand in the final game.

Earlier, Thuy defeated four rivals from Portugal, Morocco, Azerbaijan and Jordan.

At the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore, Vietnamese taekwondo artists Nguyen Thanh Thao (women’s 55kg category) and Nguyen Quoc Cuong (men’s 55 kg category) brought home silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Ciputra challenge underway in Hanoi

The Ciputra Hanoi-Yonex Sunrise Vietnam International Challenge kicked off in Hanoi on March 25 with the participation of 288 badminton players from 13 teams.

Participants are competing for medals in five categories – singles and doubles matches for men and women, and mixed doubles, which will last until March 30.

The annual event, endorsed by the Badminton World Federation and Badminton Asia Confederation, aims to sharpen the athletes’ skills and promote the friendship and solidarity between nations around the world.

It also creates an opportunity for Vietnam to promote its image and fuel the country’s badminton development.

The winners will walk away with up to 4,000 points to strengthen their global rankings.

Badminton fans can watch the matches for free at Cau Giay Gymnasium. The competition will also be aired live on local television channels.

Thien advances in Men's Futures tournament

Nguyen Hoang Thien entered the second qualifying round of the ITF Philippines F1 Men's Futures today.

The Vietnamese second seed beat Filipino Vernon Agnelli Huibonhoa 6-0, 6-0 in the first round. He will now face Leander Lazaro, another Filipino, who won 6-0, 6-1 over Gregorius Tahu of Indonesia.

The main round will start tomorrow (March 26).

The winners of the tournament will get US$15,000.