Vietnam badminton star beats Europe's top player at world championship

Facing Denmark's Mia Blichfelt, the 15th seed of the tournament, on Wednesday, Trang played confidently and took the lead throughout the first set. Although Blichfelt tried to maintain a close gap with Trang, she still lost 18-21.

Blichfelt is the second-best player in Europe. She won European Games in 2019 and finished third in European Championships in 2018 and 2022.

The second set saw Blichfelt constantly in the lead. There were times that Trang were able to get ahead but then Blichfelt scored seven consecutive points to lead 19-14, to eventually win 21-16.

In the third match, Trang had a dream start as she led 5-0 but Blichfelt gradually shortened the gap. When the score was 16-15, Trang accelerated and claimed crucial points to lead 20-15. Blichfelt then scored three more points but to no avail. Trang finished the game with a powerful serve her opponent failed to return, claiming victory after 65 minutes.

This is Trang's third time in the third round of BWF World Championships, after 2014 and 2019. This is also the best result of a Vietnamese female badminton player at the tournament.

Trang's opponent in the third round was second seed Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan, who claimed victory by leading 21-15 and 21-10 in two sets on Thursday.

The other player of Vietnam in the second round, Nguyen Thuy Linh exited the tournament after losing to the third seed, South Korea's An Se-young.

Results at the tournament are set to send Trang and Linh up in BWF rankings. Trang is expected to rise from rank 79 to 61 and Linh from 59 to 54.