Vietnam's top female players thrive in world badminton championship

On Monday, Linh had an intense match with Japan’s Aya Ohori, placed 33 spots higher in world rankings. Ohori easily won the first set 21-12 and entered the second with confidence to finish Linh. But the Vietnam ace didn’t give up that easy, taking the lead to win with a close score of 21-19, forcing the third set.

In this set, Linh left Ohori far behind as she maintained a safe lead against the Japanese, claiming the 21-11 victory.

This is Linh’s second time past the first round of the world championship, after 2018.

Trang had an easier match than Linh when facing Malaysian Kisona Selvaduray. Despite being ranked 26 places higher than Trang, Selvaduray quickly lost 10-21 in the first set.

In the second, Trang continued her impressive performance with a better strategy to win 21-17.

A screenshot of Vu Thi Trang (L) playing Malaysia's Kisona Selvaduray in the first round of BWF World Championships on August 22, 2022.

In the men’s event, Trang’s husband and Vietnam number one Nguyen Tien Minh was eliminated after a big loss against Taiwan’s Wang Tzu-Wei. Minh only managed to score 14 points in two sets and waved goodbye to the tournament.

This was his 13th time attending the BWF World Championships, a world's record.

Linh will face the third seed from South Korea An Se-young in the next round, while Trang will play 11th seed Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark, the defending champion of European Games.