Vietnam's best badminton players Nguyen Tien Minh and Le Ngoc Nguyen Nhung have begun their quest to win Olympic gold by entering a number of tough international competitions.

Minh, men's star and two-time winner of the Top Players Championships, left yesterday for Thailand where he will start his warm up for Beijing in the US$120,000 Thailand Badminton Open that has attracted some of the best the sport has to offer.

The HCM City-based player will likely do well after impressive performances in competitions this year.

Minh, also the first Vietnamese to ever break into the top 100 best players published by the World Badminton Federation (IBF), has already jumped 19 spots to land at 40th this year. The leap gives him a good chance of getting an automatic bye into the 2008 Olympics, a fact that's made Minh even more determined to improve his game.

"To guarantee a ticket to Beijing, Minh needs to reach the top 32 in the world," said Huynh Thi Ngoc Lien, vice director of the HCM City Badminton Federation.

To make this dream a reality, Minh must do well at the Hong Kong Open, Taiwan Open, Macao Open and Vietnam Open to earn enough points to improve his rank by another eight points.

After Thailand, the Vietnamese men's No 1 will take part in the Philippines Open this August before travelling to Malaysia and the US later in the year.

The IBF will decide how many top players will automatically qualify for Beijing. Countries have the option to nominate their players if they are in the top 60 and don't receive a pass, according to Lien.

Nhung's tough road

But women's champion Nhung may have more trouble realising her Olympic hopes.

Ranked 120th in the world, Nhung began preparing late last year by honing her skills in China and then in Germany early this year, which forced her to miss the Robot Vietnam Tournament.

However the lack of play time seems to have done her good after she came in third at the Romanian International Open in April.

Nhung, who has a lot more to do before Beijing, said she hopes to improve her ranking at the New Zealand and Australia Opens.

Without an automatic pass, Nhung will have to face tough rivals from the region in the Olympic qualifiers this September.

Copyright © 2007 Viet Nam News