Realizing the goal for Vietnamese badminton
At the end of last year, Nguyen Thuy Linh ranked 35th in the world. The national female player once expressed her regret at not being in the top 20 players according to the set goal. At that time, Thuy Linh said that she will focus on regaining her form and fitness to achieve good results in 2025.
Now after a year, Nguyen Thuy Linh has returned to 18th place in the world. Many opinions from Vietnamese badminton experts say that the 18th place in the world reflects Thuy Linh's professional nature and does not come from luck.
Nguyen Thuy Linh started 2025 with a world ranking of 34th (ranking announced by BWF on January 7, 2025). After more than 8 months of competition and accumulating positive scores, she is currently ranked 18th in the world ( BWF rankings announced on September 2, 2025).
Coach Ngo Trung Dung and expert Hariwan of the Vietnam Badminton Team once predicted that Nguyen Thuy Linh would be capable of joining the top 15 players in the world. Nguyen Thuy Linh personally cautiously shared that many challenges pose for her, so she developed a plan to focus on competing in each specific tournament without spreading it out.
When they have passed the top 20, players have to focus more on the achievements of each tournament to accumulate more. We believe Thuy Linh will have good professional results. Of course, the ranking of athletes depends on international competition achievements, but Vietnamese women's badminton has a tennis player in the top 20 in the world, which is a very proud thing," said Mr. Khoa Trung Kien, head of the badminton department (Vietnam Department of Physical Education and Sports).
advantage of drawing lots
Nguyen Thuy Linh has just returned to Vietnam after the 2025 World Championship in France. Here, this tennis player entered the third round of the women's singles event for the first time. Next week, Thuy Linh will participate in the 2025 Vietnam Open to defend her number one position in women's singles.
She is the Vietnamese women's tennis player with the best result in this tournament when she won the Gold Medal in the women's singles in 2022, 2023 and 2024. My goal is to defend the number one position in this years tournament, Nguyen Thuy Linh once shared.
General Secretary of the Vietnam Badminton Federation - Mr. Le Thanh Ha once assessed that if an athlete like Thuy Linh or any other Vietnamese tennis player increases their position on the rankings, they will have many advantages when participating in important international tournaments.
"The ranking will decide the draw for the athletes. When in a high position, athletes are given lucky money to meet opponents of equal rank to be able to compete smoothly. If the tennis player is not in high school, they will have to face the seeds in the first round, so this is always a professional challenge," said Mr. Le Thanh Ha.
In addition to the goal of trying to maintain her position in the world top 20, Thuy Linh focuses on winning the 33rd SEA Games medal in Thailand. If she maintains a good world ranking, it will be favorable when badminton at the 33rd SEA Games is drawn for competition.
At the 31st SEA Games held in Vietnam in 2022, Nguyen Thuy Linh was not the seed for the women's singles event in badminton, she stopped in the quarterfinals. At the 32nd SEA Games competing in Cambodia, Thuy Linh was the fourth seed but also lost in the quarter-finals.
Mr. Khoa Trung Kien said that the Vietnam Badminton Team still hopes Thuy Linh will have a seed for the women's singles at the 33rd SEA Games. However, the Organizing Committee of the sport will determine the seed group when there is an official list of athletes. At the 32nd SEA Games, the women's singles event had 16 players participating, while at the 31st SEA Games, the number was only 12 people.
