Nguyen Tien Minh will be the first Vietnamese badminton player to compete at the Olympic Games and the 17^th athletes of Vietnam owning an Olympic ticket.

According to the Badminton World Federation (BWF), Minh has earned 29,916 points from international tournaments to rank 35th in the world.

The top Vietnamese player, who has dominated the local scene for years, has made great strides internationally in the last two years.

He recently took part in the Swiss Open, German Open and the All-England Series and defeated world No 12 Park Sung-hwan of the Republic of Korea in the Uber and Thomas Cup in Ho Chi Minh City in February.

He was also the only Vietnamese badminton player to be given a scholarship by the International Olympics Committee to take part in a training course in Malaysia in preparation for August’s Beijing Olympics’ qualifiers.

At the world’s biggest sporting event, 86 male and 86 female badminton players will compete in five categories. Minh, who has twice been named one of Vietnam’s top ten athletes of the year, will be one of 38 competitors in the men’s singles event.

Before Minh, Vietnam has 16 athletes who will be heading to Beijing. They include eight wushu martial artists, three taekwondo fighters, two weightlifters, one shooter and one table-tennis player.

Meanwhile, rising start Le Ngoc Nguyen Nhung is hoping to receive a wild-card place at the Olympics. Nhung, who has 16,637 points, leapt from 89th place to 75th in the world in just four months. (VNA)