In the first two rounds the world number 45 plays opponents ranked far below him. If he beats Sri Lanka’s world number 237 Dinuka Karunaratne in the opening round, he will play the winner of the match between 240^th ranked Agusriad Amphie (Indonesia) and 62^nd ranked Roman Spitko (Germany).

He is expected to run into Canadian Richard Vaughan, the world number 30, in the next round, with the winner booking a spot in the last eight.

All the players in the world’s top ten are absent, leaving the field open to others.

Vietnam has sent three players for the men’s singles, men’s doubles, and men’s team events in the tourney to run from August 28 to September 1. The others are Nguyen Quang Minh and Tran Thanh Hai.

In the last two years, the skilful Minh has made great progress, beating several top players like Dane Kenneth Jonassen, South Korean Lee Hyun-il, Thai Boonsak Ponsana, and Indonesian Taufik Hidayat.

Source: The Thao – Translated by Minh Phat