Vietnamese top badminton female player Nguyen Thuy Linh was the runner-up in the women’s singles category of the Austria Open. Photo webthethao.vn

Yukino Nakai of Japan, world No 156, beat Linh, world No 47, 2-0 (21-13, 21-18) in the final.

Earlier, Linh defeated No 1 seed and world No 43 Brittney Tam of Canada 13-21, 22-20, 21-19 in the semi-finals which lasted nearly one hour. However, in the final the same day, Linh couldn't maintain her form.

With this result, Linh has a chance to get ahead of her teammate Vu Thi Trang, who is world No 46, in the world rankings to be announced this week.

Trang and Linh are competing for a ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Born in the northern mountainous province of Phu Tho, Linh’s grandfather found her ability in the sport and trained her.

After that, her grandfather sent her to Hanoi to join a talented badminton team when she was 10. She then moved to play for Da Nang and became the nation’s No 2 player, behind Vu Thi Trang and was selected to the national team to compete in the Southeast Asian Games in 2018 when she was only 18 years old.

At present, the 22-year-old is one of the greatest hopes for Vietnamese badminton in international competition.

Linh won the Bangladesh International Series in 2019 and 2018. She won the Lao International Series in 2017 and triumphed in Nepal International Series in 2016. VNS

Vietnamese female badminton players win in first round of Austrian Open

Top Vietnamese female badminton players Vu Thi Trang and Nguyen Thuy Linh have won in the first round of the Austria Open.