Vietnamese player Nguyen Tien Minh was ousted from the Australian Badminton Open in Sydney on April 5.
Chinese player Xue Song beat Minh, who was the tournament’s No 2 seed, 21-15, 21-10 in 38 minutes.
Xue,
who is not even in the top 200 of the world rankings, dominated play
from the beginning of the match. He gave Minh no chance to resist his
strong volleys and smashes. The second set was a nightmare for Minh.
Although he switched to a highly defensive style of play, he failed to
turn the tables.
Xue has become a giant killer in Sydney as on April 4 he downed Indonesian legend Taufik Hydayat, the No 6 seed.
He
will next play the winner of the match between Alamsyah Yunus, No 12,
of Indonesia and Lee Dong-keun from the Republic of Korea in the
semi finals on April 6.
The unexpected loss will hit Minh
hard, who is No 9 in the world rankings. He is sure to fall in the
rankings as Minh could not defend his position at the last year’s
tournament. In 2012 Minh entered the final match before losing to
Chinese player Jin Chen 21-11, 21-12.
The Open will conclude on April 7 while the Badminton World Federation’s new rankings will be released early next week.-VNA