The latest women's singles rankings of the World Badminton Federation (BWF) announced on January 1, 2026, recorded a remarkable step forward for young player Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen when this athlete rose to 328th in the world, 64 places higher than last week.
Notably, just about a month ago, Thu Huyen was still outside the top 1,000 in the world, ranked 1,042. Thus, in one month, the player born in 2011 improved her ranking by 714 places - one of the strongest increases of Vietnamese badminton on the BWF rankings in recent times.
Thu Huyen's rapid progress comes from her impressive achievements at international tournaments held in Bangladesh in December 2025. At the Bangladesh International Challenge, the 14-year-old Vietnamese player caused a big surprise when she defeated Joanne Ng (Malaysia), the 4th seed of the tournament, currently ranked 208th in the world, with a score of 21-17, 21-11 right from the early round.
After winning against an opponent 8 years older than her and being superior in ranking, Thu Huyen continued to overcome another match before stopping in the semi-finals. This achievement helped the young player increase her score sharply, rising to 392nd in the world.
Not long after that, at the Bangladesh International Series, Thu Huyen continued to maintain stable form when winning 4 matches, reaching the quarterfinals. In both tournaments, she often had to face older players from 4 to 8 years old and ranked hundreds of places higher.
In December alone, Thu Huyen won a total of 9 international tournaments, thereby accumulating a significant number of points on the BWF rankings. This result helped her increase 64 places, from 392nd to 328th in the world rankings at the beginning of 2026.
With the current ranking, Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen has risen to become the 4th highest ranked female badminton player in Vietnam, only behind Nguyen Thuy Linh (ranked 22nd in the world), Vu Thi Trang (138) and Nguyen Thi Bich Phuong (317). She also surpassed a number of other experienced domestic players to make her mark on the international badminton map.
