Nguyen Thuy Linh: How to Watch Vietnam’s Tennis Star

Nguyen Thuy Linh and her teammates face a very formidable opponent.

The women’s badminton team event of the 33rd Southeast Asian Games has seven teams competing: Thailand (host nation), Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines and Myanmar. Thailand advances directly to the semi-finals. Nguyen Thuy Linh and her teammates will face Malaysia. The other matches will pit Singapore against the Philippines and Myanmar against Indonesia. The team that wins these matches will qualify for the semi-finals.

Nguyen Thuy Linh and Vietnamese tennis players will start their competition at 9:00 a.m. on December 7. The matches will be broadcast on VTV, VTVgo, HTV and FPT Play.

The Vietnamese badminton team faced a formidable challenge in their opening match of the 33rd Southeast Asian Games, against a formidable Malaysian team. The Vietnamese women’s team has six players: Nguyen Thuy Linh, Bui Bich Phuong, Pham Thi Dieu Ly, Pham Thi Khanh, Tran Thi Phuong Thuy and Vu Thi Trang. Nguyen Thuy Linh is the highest-ranked player, currently ranked 22nd in the world.

The Malaysian women’s badminton team has ten players. The highest ranked is Karupathevan Letshanaa (42nd in the world), while Ling Ching Wong occupies 44th place. Although no player on the team is ranked higher than Thuy Linh at the world level, her consistent level makes her extremely successful in team competition.

On the afternoon of December 6, Vietnamese tennis players completed their final training at the competition court (located on the campus of Thammasat University, Pathum Thani, Thailand), before their official entry into the competition of the 33rd Southeast Asian Games. During this session, the technical staff encouraged the players and discussed tactics.

Speaking to a journalist de Thanh Nien a member of the management of the Vietnamese badminton team said that the team’s composition for the match against Malaysia would be announced before the match. “With a view to allowing the six Vietnamese athletes to compete with the Malaysian players,” he said.