Vietnam’s badminton star in Asia Championship semifinals at 36

The quarterfinal match between Minh and the 2016 Olympic champion, China’s Chen Long, was to be held Friday afternoon.

However, the Chinese player withdrew for hitherto unknown reasons and the Vietnamese veteran advanced to the semifinals of the Asia Badminton Championships for the very first time. He is also the first Vietnamese player to go this far in the regional tournament, having reached the quarterfinals in 2011.

This is not the first time Chen has made an unexpected decision to withdraw from a tournament. In 2017, he withdrew from the All England Open and Dubai World Super Series Finals due to knee injury.

The Asia Badminton Championships, which began in 1964, has been organized annually since 1991. Its 39th edition is being held April 23-28 in Wuhan, China.

Minh will go up Saturday afternoon against world number 1 Kento Momota of Japan. 

Minh, who has soared to heights unmatched by any Vietnamese badminton player before him, was once ranked as high as number four in the world. He is now making a remarkable comeback from relative wilderness.