The Vietnamese earned 55,675 points after competing in numerous tournaments. Minh reached No 6, his highest ranking to date, last December.

The top place still belongs to Malaysian Lee Chong Wei who defeated Minh in their previous two meetings this month.

Minh left for Seoul on January 23 to compete in his second tournament of the New Year, the Republic of Korea Super Series Premier, which kicked off on January 25.

Despite his high ranking, the two-time Olympian is not seeded in this US$1.2 million tournament and will meet the No 4 seed Chen Long from China during the first round.

Chen is a rising star in the world, who has defeated both Lee Chong Wei and Olympian and Asian Games champion Lin Dan.