Strong movement, thin achievements

On the morning of July 7, via social networks, Vietnamese badminton fans eagerly followed the women's singles final of the 2025 Canada Open, where Vietnam's No. 1 player Nguyen Thuy Linh (27 years old, ranked 22nd in the world) competed.

Her opponent was the 22-year-old Japanese player, currently ranked 35th in the world . However, despite winning 2 out of 3 previous matches, Thuy Linh still lost quickly this time with a score of 0-2 (12-21, 14-21). This was a "convincing" defeat as she could only hold on for the first half of each set before being quickly overtaken by her opponent. Two inherent weaknesses, limited physical strength and a high failure rate, even in simple shots, continued to be barriers preventing Thuy Linh from creating a surprise in this important match.

More than ten days earlier, at the 2025 US Open Badminton Tournament, Nguyen Thuy Linh was eliminated in the first round by a 16-year-old Indian athlete (ranked 66th in the world) with a score of 0-2 (19-21, 9-21) after just over half an hour of competition. Once again, experts pointed out that self-inflicted mistakes, poor mentality and physical strength were the main reasons for the "badminton beauty queen of Vietnam"'s defeat.

In recent international tournaments, Vietnamese badminton has participated with a rather thin force: In the women's category, there is only Nguyen Thuy Linh, while in the men's category, there are usually Le Duc Phat and Nguyen Hai Dang. At the 2025 Canada Open, the two male players did not leave much of an impression.

In general, with the current trend of rejuvenation in world badminton, all three pillars of Vietnamese badminton mentioned above are no longer young, and will find it difficult to shoulder the responsibility of international tournaments in 3-4 years. Looking at the next generation, we can see some promising young talents from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Thai Binh (old), Bac Giang (old)..., however, the number is not large and there are not many athletes who can participate in doubles.

Vietnamese badminton has a large foundation with a strong movement and a large number of players, which is a solid foundation for building a professional and quality athlete force. However, reality shows that we have not made good use of this resource and that is something that needs to be improved if we want to have a strong team of professional athletes that can meet the requirements of international competitions.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/manh-phong-trao-mong-thanh-tich-708818.html