Nguyen Thuy Linh, Vietnam’s top female badminton player, has secured a thrilling 2-0 victory over Scottish opponent Kirsty Gilmour to advance to the round of 16 at the 2025 BWF World Championships in Paris. She is now the only Vietnamese player left in the tournament.

Thuy Linh displayed strong form and determination, defeating the former top-10 player with scores of 21-17 and 23-21 in the second round of the women’s singles event.

The win was especially sweet for Linh, as it avenged her loss to Gilmour in the round of 32 at the 2024 Indonesia Open.

In the first set, Thuy Linh turned a 12-13 deficit into a 17-13 lead with a five-point streak and closed the set at 21-17. The second set was more tightly contested. After missing a match point at 20-19 and falling behind 20-21, the 28-year-old regained composure to score three consecutive points, sealing the set 23-21 and wrapping up the match in straight sets. She won 44 out of 82 total points, with a 54% scoring efficiency.

This marks the second time in her career that Linh has reached the third round of the World Championships, the first being in 2018 in Nanjing, China.

In the round of 16, she will face a formidable challenge against fourth seed Chen Yufei - a former world number one and gold medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Six Vietnamese players initially competed in this year’s tournament, but Thuy Linh remains the last standing after Vu Thi Trang, Le Duc Phat, Nguyen Hai Dang, and the men’s doubles pair Dinh Hoang - Dinh Manh were all eliminated in early rounds.

With her current momentum and high spirits, Thuy Linh has emerged as the brightest hope for Vietnam at this year’s global stage, representing not just skill, but the aspirations of Vietnamese badminton.

Thien Binh