The successor is many but not superior
Tennis player Nguyen Thuy Linh made Vietnamese badminton fans regretful after losing the women's singles final of the 2025 Vietnam Open in Ho Chi Minh City on September 14. The tennis player himself shared that he had tried very hard and participated in the final for the 4th consecutive time but had not won in response to the fans' expectations.
Vietnamese women's badminton is still enthusiastically supported by fans. It is understandable that the audience sat full in the stands to cheer for Nguyen Thuy Linh because fans had faith in this tennis player.
In terms of expertise, Vietnamese badminton has many young players. However, not many people with outstanding expertise are on par with Nguyen Thuy Linh and Vu Thi Trang.
General Secretary of the Vietnam Badminton Federation Le Thanh Ha once acknowledged: There are many young female athletes in Vietnam, but not every player is capable of long-term development to surpass Thuy Linh or Vu Thi Trang. That is the reason why the Vietnam Badminton Team still believes in the ability of these two players to compete for achievements".
Currently, in addition to Thuy Linh and Vu Thi Trang, the Vietnam Badminton Team has female players trained by Bui Bich Phuong, Tran Thi Phuong Thuy, Than Van Anh, Pham Thi Khanh, Tran Thi Anh, Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen. Among them, Tran Thi Anh and Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen are two young talents under 20 years old. However, coaches are not in a hurry to confirm that Anh and Huyen will be the future Thuy Linh or Vu Thi Trang. They need to develop on the right track even if they are promising players.
A long journey ahead
The Vietnamese badminton team will select Nguyen Thuy Linh and Vu Thi Trang to participate in the women's singles event at the 33rd SEA Games. In the past 10 years, no female tennis player has replaced these two players in the women's singles event at the SEA Games. The Vietnamese badminton team has only once failed to register Vu Thi Trang to compete in the 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia (Vu Thi Trang was replaced by Le Thu Huyen). The rest, Nguyen Thuy Linh and Vu Thi Trang are always the top choices of the Vietnam Badminton Team.
The two tennis players competed in the 2025 World Championship and the 2025 Vietnam Open. They are having stable expertise. This is the reason why we are very confident that these two tennis players will achieve good form at the 33rd SEA Games" - Mr. Le Thanh Ha added.
Vietnamese badminton once had a young athlete Vu Thi Anh Thu who developed her skills well. However, she was injured so she has not competed and regained her form.
Preparing for the long-term goal, the Vietnam Badminton Team decided to register only player Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen to participate in the 2025 Asian Youth Sports Festival in Bahrain (October 2025). This 15-year-old player is a key athlete that Vietnamese women's badminton focuses on investing in for the long term.
Therefore, Thu Huyen was given the opportunity to participate in this arena to accumulate experience to continue developing. 12 years ago, Vietnamese badminton practiced this method by sending Nguyen Thuy Linh to compete in the 2013 Asian Youth Sports Festival. After 12 years, she is the number 1 tennis player in Vietnam and is in the top 20 in the world.
Vietnamese badminton invests in female athletes due to predicting the ability to achieve results in regional competitions. Tennis player Vu Thi Trang won the Women's Singles Medal at the 2013 and 2015 SEA Games. Nguyen Thuy Linh has the opportunity to achieve this result at the 33rd SEA Games. After her, Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen or Vu Thi Anh Thu are expected to succeed, but how to achieve the result is still an unanswered question.
