Vietnamese players hunting abroad for international badminton titles
Vietnamese badminton players are hoping to win some international titles this week in Indonesia and in Germany.
Vietnam’s number-two player Nguyen Hai Dang has been seeded number five in the men's singles event at the WONDR by BNI Indonesia Masters II 2024, which will be held from October 29 to November 3 in Surabaya.
The Vietnamese has a bye card to compete in the second round, when he will be up against the winner of the match between Saran Jamsri of Thailand and a qualifier who will be decided on October 29.
Another representative of Vietnam, Bui Thanh Dat, begins his title challenge in the qualification round. He will face Varot Uraiwong of Thailand in his first match.
On the women's team, Vu Thi Anh Thu and Le Ngoc Van will represent Vietnam.
Thu, world number 144, will play number 122 Bilqis Prasista of the hosts in the first main round match.
Van will compete against Malaysian Yi Xing Ung in the qualification round.
Nearly 300 athletes will be competing in the Indonesian tournament which has five categories, men's and women's singles and doubles and mixed doubles.
A total of US$100,000 in prize money and points for world rankings are up for grabs.
Meanwhile in Germany, two-time Olympian Nguyen Thuy Linh, is seeded number four in the Hylo Open 2024's women's singles class, competing from October 29 to November 3.
It is her second international event this month, after taking part in the VICTOR Denmark Open 2024, where she was stopped in the second round.
Linh landed in Saarbrucken and has two days of training before her first game, which she has high hopes for.
In the first match, she will play Rachael Darragh from Ireland.
Linh, who is world number 32, is expected to cruise through the match with Darragh, who is much lower in the rankings, sitting at number 96.
If she wins, her next match will be against either No 65 Amalie Schulz of Denmark or No 75 Keisha Fatimah Azzahra of Azerbaijan.
The first big challenge for Linh will be in the quarter-finals where she could be up against Indian Malvika Bansod who is ranked number six in the tournament and is world number 35.
Linh easily defeated Bansod 21-13, 21-12 at the VICTOR Denmark Open's second round two weeks ago.
Initially, Vietnam’s champion Le Duc Phat planned to compete in the men's singles event, but he withdrew at the last minute due to personal issues.
The Hylo Open, which is one of the World Tour's Super 300-leveled event, offers 210,000 USD in prize money and world ranking points to winning athletes.
