FAMILY MOTIVATES TIEN MINH

KUALA LUMPUR (24 Jan 2010) - Family is the main motivation for Vietnam's Nguyen Tien Minh as he aspires to take on the world's best in badminton - without proper coaching or sparring partner.

Speaking after his 20-22, 11-21 loss to world No. 1 Datuk Lee Chong Wei yesterday, that in spite of all the difficulties, he is still motivated to do well and take on the world's best.

"There are no good sparring partners back home whom I can play against consistently and that has made things hard," added the 27-year-old Tien Minh.

"Even playing two against one is not good enough. Training has been restricted to doing a lot of physical work mostly in the afternoon, so at least my stamina can cope with the game.

"So for me, taking part in tournaments is the best sparring experience for me where I can take on the best players out there.

"What motivates me are my family and the Vietnam government, who have been supportive of my aspiration. They just told me to concentrate on badminton and not worry about work or money - that has been great. And I worked hard to repay their faith in me."

But there is still hope for Tien Minh where next month, a singles coach from Indonesia will be arriving in Vietnam to guide him for several months.

He said that he hopes to get the best from the experience and raise the level of his game further.

"As you can see today, Chong Wei was just too fast for me. He controlled the game and I just could not cope with his smashes," added Tien Minh.

"It is tough playing against the top players, I have to run a lot."