Vietnamese athlete runner up at Austrian badminton tournament

By Hoang Nguyen   February 24, 2020 | 07:00 pm PT
Vietnamese athlete runner up at Austrian badminton tournament
Nguyen Thuy Linh receives the prize as runner up at the Badminton Austrian Open on February 22, 2020. Photo courtesy of Nguyen Thuy Linh.
Nguyen Thuy Linh finished second at the Badminton Austrian Open last weekend.

Linh, 47th on world ranking, had a great run in the tournament when she defeated the number one seeded player Brittney Tam (rank 43) 2-1 with the score 13-21, 22-20, 21-19 after three rounds on February 22. The intense match lasted for one hour, as Linh lost quickly in the first round but came back strongly in the other rounds to advance to final.

She continued to play the final on the same day, facing the lower ranked player, Japanese Yukino Nakai (rank 156). However, having to play two games in just one day drawn out Linh’s stamina and she was quickly beaten after two rounds (13-21 ad 18-21).

Finishing second in this tournament will give Linh advantage in Olympic 2020 qualification. Linh and Vu Thi Trang, the two top badminton female players in Vietnam, are competing for the only ticket to the event (Vietnam only got one slot for a female badminton player in the Olympic). By the end of April, whoever has higher place on world ranking will represent Vietnam in Tokyo 2020.

In the current badminton world ranking for women, Linh is at 47th while Trang is at 46th, and with this feat in the Austrian Open, Linh has the chance to surpass Trang when the ranking is updated next week.

Linh won the Bangladesh International Series in 2019 and 2018. She won the Lao International Series in 2017 and triumphed at Nepal International Series in 2016. 

 
 
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