The world’s number 7 Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam has made two opening wins to progress to the third round of the Taiwan Grand Prix Gold 2011 taking place in Sinjhuang City from September 6-11.
Nguyen Tien Minh Photo: Tuoi Tre
Minh defeated the underdog Soon Huat Goh of Malaysia, ranking 122nd in the world, 21-10 21-13 within just 26 minutes. Earlier, he had romped past another Malaysian Keat Zhen Kong 21-10 21-11 in the opening round on Wednesday.
In the third round, Minh will take on host player Hsuan Yi Hsueh, number 54th in the world, who surpassed Yan Kit Chan of Kong Kong 2-1 in the second round.
Last month, Nguyen Tien Minh won his home title for the third time in four years when he defeated Japanese Sho Sasaki in the men’s singles final at the US$50,000 Yonex Sunrise Vietnam Open Grand Prix in Ho Chi Minh City.
There are two levels of Grand Prix Events, including Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. The Grand Prix Gold offers a total prize pool of at least $120,000 and Grand Prix with $50,000 minimum.
All Grand Prix events offer ranking points to players according to the classification of each tournament.
2011 has 11 Grand Prix Gold and 5 Grand Prix tournaments with total prize money of US$1,570,000 hosted in such diverse places as Macau, Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, the USA, Canada and the Netherlands.