Vietnamese badminton confidently steps into the world arena, hoping for Nguyen Thuy Linh

Efforts to conquer international tournaments to achieve high rankings on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings helped 6 Vietnamese tennis players win the right to participate in the 2025 Badminton World Championships taking place in Paris (France) from August 25 to 31.

Remarkable efforts of Vietnamese badminton

At the most recent Badminton World Championship in 2023, Vietnam only had 2 players qualified to participate, Nguyen Thuy Linh (women's singles) and Nguyen Hai Dang (men's singles). This year, the number of Vietnamese badminton players qualified to participate tripled, with 6 athletes: Nguyen Thuy Linh, Vu Thi Trang (women's singles), Nguyen Hai Dang, Le Duc Phat (men's singles) and Tran Dinh Manh/Nguyen Dinh Hoang (men's doubles).

6 Vietnamese tennis players with expert Harianwan Hong

Photo: VBF

Mr. Khoa Trung Kien, in charge of badminton at the Vietnam Sports Administration, said that he has made efforts to compete in many international tournaments to accumulate points and improve rankings to help Vietnamese athletes qualify for the 2025 World Badminton Championships. Indonesian expert Hariawan Hong also accompanied and provided professional support to Vietnamese badminton players when they came to France to compete in this tournament.

The World Badminton Championships will feature all the strongest players, so the competition is very high. The Vietnamese badminton players have already received the draw results, know their opponents and will strive to achieve the best results. The tournament is also an opportunity for the Vietnamese badminton team to train, aiming for the 33rd SEA Games taking place in Thailand this December.

Expectations of Nguyen Thuy Linh

Nguyen Thuy Linh is the number 1 hope of Vietnamese badminton at this world championship. Ranked 22nd in the world, the number 1 Vietnamese player was not selected as the seed for the women's singles, so she had to meet the number 10 seed, also the world's number 10 player Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand) in the first match. 30-year-old Ratchanok Intanon is the 2013 world badminton women's singles champion and has won gold medals at both the Asian and Southeast Asian tournaments. The opponent is very strong, but the opportunity is not impossible for Nguyen Thuy Linh. In the most recent encounter at the German Open last year, Thuy Linh made Ratchanok Intanon lose 0-2 (13/21, 15/21). The number 1 Vietnamese player still maintains a fairly stable form, with the ability to repeat the victory over the former world champion. If she can beat the Thai player, Thuy Linh promises to go further in the women's singles. The best achievement of Vietnamese badminton at the world championship was the bronze medal in the men's singles by Nguyen Tien Minh in 2013, which is also the target of Nguyen Thuy Linh.

Also in the women's singles, Vu Thi Trang (ranked 170th in the world) faced Ukrainian player Kantemyr (ranked 120th in the world) in the first match. The opponent was not too strong, which was an opportunity for the wife of player Nguyen Tien Minh to win a ticket to the next round.

In the men's singles, Nguyen Hai Dang (world rank 57) meets young Indonesian talent Alwi Farhan (world rank 23) while Le Duc Phat (world rank 69) faces Julien Carraggi (Belgium, world rank 59) so has a higher chance of winning.

In the men's doubles, Tran Dinh Manh and Nguyen Dinh Hoang qualified for the world championship for the first time, so they set the goal of gaining experience and training. The men's doubles, the current champions of the Vietnam International Challenge badminton tournament, currently ranked 126th in the world, faced the pair Izak/Matheus (Brazil, ranked 116th in the world) in the first match.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cau-long-viet-nam-tu-tin-buoc-ra-dau-truong-the-gioi-ky-vong-nguyen-thuy-linh-185250823231710707.htm