Nguyen Tien Minh claimed the fourth Vietnam Open gold medal of his career

Nguyen Tien Minh claimed the fourth Vietnam Open gold medal of his career

The Vietnam Open, a Grand Prix Gold level tournament, was the most attention-grabbing tournament in August. Many badminton fans were full of praise for the effort and skill winner three times in succession Nguyen Tien Minh showed and, roared on by the home crowd, he didn’t let down their expectations, taking the gold again by beating Takuma Ueda of Japan in the final and consolidating his position as Vietnam’s No.1 men’s singles player.

The latest BWF rankings released on September 6 showed that South Korea’s Jung Jae Sung / Lee Yong Dae once again have knocked Fu Hai Feng / Cai Yun off top spot in the world rankings. Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, who had a classic match against China’s Li Xue Rui (currently ranked No.2) at the Olympics, moved up to 12th in the world rankings ahead of Cheng Shao Chieh (currently 13^th)who has been the Chinese Taipei No.1 women’s singles player for quite a while. Tai isn’t just the new darling of badminton circles in Taiwan, her popularity is also rocketing in China and Hong Kong ! 

Tai holds up her racket in a victory pose

Tai Tzu Ying photographed with the President Lions baseball team’s mascot
 

Apart from the men’s singles top ranking changing hands and Xu Zhen / Ma Jin replacing Zhang Nan / Zhao Yun Lei at the top of the mixed doubles rankings, there were no other changes at the top of the rankings for the other three disciplines (Men’s singles： Lin Dan, women’s singles： Wang Yi Han, women’s doubles： Yu Yang / Wang Xiao Li.)

The rankings of Chinese Taipei’s top players didn’t change much in the latest rankings. Lee Sheng Mu / Fang Chieh Min rank 9^th, three time Olympian women’s doubles pair Cheng Wen Hsing / Chien You Chin rank 9^th ,and mixed doubles pair Cheng Wen Hsing / Cheng Hung Lin are also 9^th.

Guess who the player celebrating victory is. Yes, it’s Chinese Taipei’sLee Sheng Mu (winner of the men’s doubles at 2012 Malaysia Super Series with partner Fang Chieh Min)

August was the first month after the end of the London Olympics. Most players who competed there were rested and the various national teams and associations carried out an overall review of their respective team’s performance in London. 

Some countries face the issue of the generational “changing of the guard,” with experienced players about to retire while younger generation have still to reach the level of the established players. How, then, can national badminton power be retained?How can veteran players pass on training skills and competition experience fully to the younger players? These are questions that national coaches have had to face as soon as the Olympics ended because preparing for the next Olympics is a race against time.

At competitions in the next few months perhaps there will be an opportunity to see many “old and young” doubles pairings, that is, an experienced player accompanied by young one with good potential. This process of nurturing the next “ace” is critical and is also urgent and is test of the vision and boldness of national coaches. We hope that, in the not too distant future, Taiwan produces more outstanding singles players and doubles pairs so that Chinese Taipei can continue it advance in world badminton!  

 

BWF World Rankings for August 2012