Vietnam’s badminton hero Nguyen Tien Minh, ranked 10th in the world, advanced to the quarterfinals at the YONEX Chinese Taipei Gold Grand Prix after beating Saensomboonsuk Tanongsak of Thailand 2-1 Thursday.
Earlier the same day, third-seeded Minh defeated the world’s 78th Kozai Kazuteru of Japan 2-0 in the second round after beating the world’s 71st Shon Wan Ho from South Korea in the first round.
In the second round Thursday, Thailand’s Tanongsak, ranked 44th, upset ninth seed from the host side Hsieh Yu Hsing, ranked 17th in the world.
Among the losers in the second round were fifth-seeded Ponsana Boonsak from Thailand, ranked 11th in the world, and 16th seed Indian Sridhar Anup, ranked 40th in the world.
Minh will play the world’s 84th, Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto, in the quarterfinals Friday.
