Olympics
Việt Nam’s Nguyễn Thùy Linh reacts after beating Switzerland’s Sabrina Jaquet in their women’s singles badminton group stage match during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza in Tokyo on Wednesday. AFP/VNA Photo
HÀ NỘI — Badminton player Nguyễn Thùy Linh ended her Olympic journey with an easy win over Switzerland’s Sabrina Jaquet in the women’s singles in Group P in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Vietnamese Linh, world No 49, needed 33 minutes to beat Jaquet 21-8, 21-17 in the last match of the group. She avenged her previous defeat to the world No 46 rival at the Russian Open in 2019.
It was Linh’s second win, putting her in the second position in the group but not enough to push her into the next round.
She made a new mark for Việt Nam as it is the first time that a Vietnamese badminton player has grabbed two wins at an Olympics.
Previously, her seniors Lê Ngọc Nguyên Nhung and Vũ Thị Trang could win only once at the 2008 and 2016 competitions, respectively.
Two hours later, archer Đỗ Thị Ánh Nguyệt competed in the women’s individual event. She was against host competitor Ren Hayakawa.
Nguyệt, 20, is the youngest member of Việt Nam Team, and it is the first Olympics of her career. Meanwhile Ren is more experienced, and was tasting the Olympic atmosphere for the second time. She won a bronze in the women’s team event in 2012 in London and another in the Asian Games in 2014.
Nguyệt caused surprised when she won the first and third sets and drew in the fourth, forcing Ren to work hard to level the score with wins in the second and fifth set. The 2-2 result pushed them to a shoot-off, but Nguyệt could not control her nerves and scored only seven points while Ren made eight and advanced to the next round.
Later today, boxer Nguyễn Văn Đương will enter the ring against Erdenebat Tsendbaatar of Mongolia. VNS
