Nguyen Tien Minh with world bronze medal: Reaping rewards

Tien Minh's miracle at the recent World Championships was not only rewarded with the admiring eyes of his international friends, but the tennis player from Ho Chi Minh City will also be recognized with many awards in the future.

Yesterday evening, the number one tennis player of Vietnam was welcomed at Tan Son Nhat airport by the warm embrace of his family, friends, leaders of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City as well as many fans of Tien Minh. The miracle in Guangzhou recently helped Minh be proposed by the leaders of the badminton department to be awarded the Second Class Labor Medal of the State, an honor that few sports athletes have.

Sharing at the airport amid everyone's affection, Vietnam's number one tennis player could not hide his pride: "In just 2 weeks, I was tested for doping 3 times just because people suspected that I was short, the oldest in the world's top 30, but made my opponents struggle because of my flexibility and perseverance in playing style.

6 years since I started competing internationally, this is the happiest moment of my life. Winning a world bronze medal is a feat that even the number one badminton players in many countries and territories with strong badminton such as Thailand, India, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan or Hong Kong... have not achieved.

Tien Minh (middle) was welcomed at the airport yesterday afternoon. Photo: VH

My opponent in the quarterfinals was the number 2 player in Denmark, Jan Jorgensen. After the match, he and his coach proactively came to hug me, congratulate me, and take a commemorative photo. I was very proud of that.”

Tien Minh added: “The coach of the Malaysian national team teased me when he said that Malaysia participated in the World Championship in Guangzhou with 30 athletes and dozens of experts, coaches, and care staff, but only Lee Chong Wei made it to the final. Meanwhile, Vietnam only had me, coach Anh Hoang, and coach Ngoc Lien, and yet they won the bronze medal. Many other countries like Korea, Singapore, and India sent dozens of people and still came away empty-handed. That's why they respect me even more."

Tien Minh’s three-set match with Danish player Jorgensen set an unofficial badminton world record after 108 racket touches in more than 2 minutes. This is something that has made many experts suspicious and perhaps that is why, within 2 weeks of participating in the US Open and the World Championship in Guangzhou, Tien Minh was tested by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) 3 times.

Tien Minh said: “After winning the US Open, I took a doping test. When I arrived in Guangzhou, as soon as I got off the plane, someone followed me to the hotel to take a doping test. After losing to Lin Dan, I was tested again by WADA. Maybe because they saw that I was small and over 30 years old, running too hard, they suspected me.”

Joy after joy, with the recent miracle, Tien Minh was awarded 121 million VND. Ho Chi Minh City representative awarded 41 million VND, Vietnam Badminton Federation and Ho Chi Minh City 25 million VND, 35 million VND from the State, a private enterprise also gave Tien Minh an additional bonus of 20 million VND.

According to Thethaovanhoa - DT