Tien Minh Nguyen remains inconsistent in 2012 – Badminton Feature
Vietnam’s prime Men’s Singles expert Tine Minh Nguyen has been representing his country at international level for last eight years but still he has failed to make a strong impact in the arena. Apart from couple of GP Gold titles, he could not register his
mark in esteemed badminton tournaments.
The badminton critics believe that inconsistency is his biggest hurdle in this way to glory as he takes off in perfect manner but lack of good finishing skills brings him down later. It seems this flaw troubled him in this ongoing season also as he participated
in almost every prestigious tournament this year but only won the Vietnam Open and Chinese Taipei Open.
Tien Minh, who holds 11th spot in World rankings, had to wait for eight months to pocket his first major title of the year. Earlier, he faced woeful exits from Korea Open, All England Open, Swiss Open, Badminton Asia Championships, Singapore Open
and 2012 London Olympics.
The Vietnamese shuttler started his season by receiving a severe blow in 2012 Korea Open as he had to face a straight-set defeat from Kenichi Tago of Japan. His next challenge was the World’s oldest badminton event, the All England Open but he failed again
to clear the preliminary round.
He was subjected to a tough trial as Chinese maestro Chen Long was his competitor in the second round. Though, Tien Minh put an honest effort but luck was on his side and he had to bid farewell to this esteemed tournament.
2012 Swiss Open saw him making some decent progress as he managed to gain access to the pre quarter-final round but the inconsistent performance put his expedition to halt. This time he knelt down in front of a lower ranked Danish player, Hans Kristian Vittinghus.
However, this bad patch ended in the Australian Open as Tien Minh showed elevated craft and powered his way to the grand finale. He thrashed Sho Sasaki of Japan in the semi-finals and then challenged Chen Jin before losing to him in the title match.
This splendid outing boosted his confidence and he earned great deal of respect by performing exceedingly well in 2012 Singapore Open.
The 29-year-old Tien Minh represented his country in the London Olympics but he failed to shoulder his responsibility in his last outing of the mega event. He was expected to make it to the quarter-finals at least but Parupalli Kashyap of India cast him
out from the second round.
This failure brought him under fire and badminton critics started advising him to hang up his racket but he silenced them with a strong comeback in Vietnam Open. He relished full benefits of the home ground and bagged his first international title of the
year.
Tien Minh overwhelmed spirited shuttlers like Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif and Kento Momota in the preliminary rounds and then raised his chances by beating Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the semi-finals. He did not lose this rhythm and raised Men’s Singles trophy after
unseating Takuma Ueda of Japan.
The Vietnamese campaigner escorted his country to glory also in Chinese Taipei Open as he remained invincible in this GP Gold event. Though, he was lucky enough to have relatively lower ranked opponents throughout this unbeatable run but still he put an
extra effort to reserve the top spot on victory stand.
Now he is scheduled to swing arms in Hong Kong Open, China Open, India Open and 2012 BWF Super Series Finals and he will have to put all in his possession to silence his critics. It will be a golden opportunity for him to remove the tag of an inconsistent
shuttler.
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