Tien Minh was eliminated early at Vietnam Open 2023

Due to his lack of participation in international tournaments recently, Tien Minh dropped to 342nd in the world and had to play from the qualifying round, meeting Ting Yen Chen - the opponent ranked 308th in the world.

Last week's national championship is expected to give Tien Minh more confidence and excitement to overcome his Taiwanese opponent and win a ticket to the main round.

The home player started positively, leading 2-1 and then 3-2. But difficulties gradually came when Ting "warmed up", gradually clearing almost every shot - regardless of Tien Minh's drop shots or cross-court shots.

When Tien Minh was behind 13-20, set 1 seemed to end soon.

However, the home player unexpectedly scored six points in a row to shorten the gap to 19-20 amid cheers from a small audience at Nguyen Du Stadium.

However, at the decisive point, Tien Minh made a mistake.

On a down the line shot by Ting, the shuttlecock seemed to go out. The audience shouted “out”, but Tien Minh still saved the shuttlecock and hit it out, giving the opponent the victory.

Because of that mistake, the 40-year-old player entered set 2 with a tense mentality, being continuously led by a gap of five points by his opponent.

He fought hard to close the gap, but at crucial moments, he could not keep up with Ting's powerful shots.

Not only was he out of breath, Tien Minh also made many incorrect decisions. In a phase where he judged the ball to be out, he did not save it, but the ball was still in the field.

After that failed tackle, Tien Minh turned to the coach and explained: "Is there wind in the stadium?"

The following efforts were not enough to help Tien Minh turn the situation around, accepting to lose set 2 with a score of 14-21 and stopping early.

Although Tien Minh was eliminated, Vietnam still has many players competing in the men's singles, including two young talents Le Duc Phat and Nguyen Hai Dang who will compete in the main round tonight. In addition, Nguyen Thuy Linh will also compete in the main round tomorrow.

Vietnam Open 2023 takes place from September 12 to 17 at Nguyen Du Gymnasium, Ho Chi Minh City, with 283 players from 23 countries and territories. Host Vietnam has 31 athletes competing in four events: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles.