Nguyễn Thùy Linh faces the European runner-up in the second round of the 2025 World Badminton Championships.

If she surpasses this rival, Nguyễn Thùy Linh will likely face the "super strong defender" in the last 16 of the 2025 World Badminton Championships.

On August 25th, Vietnam time, Nguyễn Thùy Linh had a brilliant start at the 2025 World Badminton Championships by defeating former world number one and the youngest player ever to win the title, Ratchanok Intanon, with a commanding 2-0 victory.

Thùy Linh maintained smart shuttle control combined with powerful, unstoppable smashes, while capitalizing on Ratchanok’s mistakes to race to the finish line. The player from Phú Thọ continues to demonstrate outstanding form in 2025 with an increasingly refined playing style.

The opponent of the "Vietnamese Badminton Beauty" in the second round of this year’s world championship has also been revealed. It is Kirsty Gilmour, a Scottish player currently ranked 31st in the world.

Born in 1993, Gilmour is Scotland’s and the United Kingdom’s top singles badminton player. She reached her highest world ranking of 14 in 2016, won five silver medals at the European Championships, once finished second at the European Games, and holds several other notable titles. Additionally, Gilmour is known as one of the few LGBT players currently ranked in the world’s top 100.

In her opening match at this year’s World Championships, Gilmour easily defeated Shamika Mohamed Rafi Fadilah, an unheralded player from Uganda, with a decisive score of 21-5, 21-12.

Nguyễn Thùy Linh and Kirsty Gilmour are well acquainted, having faced each other at the Indonesia Open in June last year, where the Scottish player surprisingly won 2-0. This time, with her current form, Thùy Linh is considered to have a better chance of advancing.

If she defeats Gilmour, Vietnam’s top player is likely to face the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion, Chen Yufei.

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Nguyễn Thùy Linh shocks former world number one in opening World Championships match. (Badminton results) — Nguyễn Thùy Linh delivered an outstanding performance to defeat former world number one Ratchanok Intanon in her opening match at the 2025 World Championships. See more