Badminton

Nguyễn Thùy Linh is one of eight Vietnamese players at the Badminton Asia Championship 2026 on April 7-11 in China. — Photo baovanhoa.vn

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese players will compete in the Badminton Asia Championship 2026, seeking for highest results from April 7-11 in China.

Eight players will take part in the men's and women's singles and doubles events against very strong rivals as Asia is home to many world leading athletes.

Among them, Nguyễn Thùy Linh is the only Vietnamese representative in the women's singles event and she will begin from main round.

After the draw, Linh is placed in a tough branch. The world No 26 will face Huang Yu-Hsun of Chinese Taipei, who is world No 30, in the first match at the Ningbo Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium.

It will be the first meet of the two rivals. Their small gap in the world ranking promises a balanced and competitive match.

If she can overcome Huang, her next rival would be world No 1 An Se Young of South Korea who will play No 32 Yeo Jia Min of Singapore.

Her stable performance after the Paris Olympics gold medal makes An a title favourite and meet no challenge to advance to the second round.

Other strong rivals in this branch are No 3 Chen Yu Fei of China, No 5 Han Yue and No 8 Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand, who are all big obstacles in the way to podium for Linh.

Prior to the Chinese competition, Linh headed to Europe to horn her skills in the All England and Swiss Open in March.

Nguyễn Hải Đăng will play in the men's singles but he has to compete in the qualifications.

The rest players are in doubles events and they will also have to vie for main round from qualifiers.

The Asian championship will deliver a US$550,000 to the best players in which the singles champions earn $38,500 and the doubles winners take $40,700.

In the last three editions of the continental tournament, Việt Nam failed to make top three. — VNS