Badminton 

Nguyễn Thuỳ Linh is Việt Nam's representative in the women's singles of the Asian Badminton Championships on April 8-13 in Ningbo, China. Photo kenh14.vn

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam's top badminton player Nguyễn Thùy Linh will face off against a strong rival in the first match of the Asian Badminton Championships which begins today in China.

Linh, who climbed to world number 26 last week, will play Akane Yamaguchi of Japan who is seeded fourth in the world. 

It will be their second meet within just one month. In March, Linh who has never been in Asian championships' top three, was defeated 19-21, 12-21 by Yamaguchi in the All England Open's first round.

In addition to Linh, Việt Nam will be sending players to all the other categories of the tournament.

Paris Olympian Lê Đức Phát will play in the men's singles, but he will have to start from the qualification round, where he will meet Viren Nettasinghe of Sri Lanka and Kah Kit Kan of Brunei.

Other players will be Nguyễn Đình Hoàng and Trần Đình Mạnh, Phạm Thị Khánh, Phạm Thị Diệu Linh and Trần Đình Mạnh, Phạm Thị Khánh, Phạm Văn Hải and Thân Vân Anh, who are also starting from the qualifiers of men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles.

The finals are scheduled for April 13 at the Ningbo Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Ningbo City.

A total of US$500,000 and points will be awarded to high-ranking players.

"The Asian event features the leading players from the continent. Many of them are at world level. Vietnamese players need to try their best and compete with great determination in order to win positive results," said Khoa Trung Kiên of the Sports Authority of Việt Nam's Badminton Department.

Việt Nam's best result in Asia was a bronze medal won by the national icon Nguyễn Tiến Minh in 2019. VNS