Nguyễn Thùy Linh makes a surprising decision at the prestigious Southeast Asian tournament

The Super 300 Thailand Masters 2026 will be held from January 27 to February 1 in Bangkok, Thailand, gathering numerous notable figures from the global badminton scene.

Vietnam’s top badminton player, Nguyễn Thùy Linh, will not compete at the Super 300 Thailand Masters 2026 held at Nimibutr Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand, from January 27 to February 1.

Although Thùy Linh’s name appears on the list of participants for this year’s Thailand Masters, she is among those who have withdrawn, including Chen Yufei, Ratchanok Intanon, Yeo Jia Min, Line Kjaersfeldt, and Tanvi Sharma. This means the Vietnamese badminton star will have an early Tet holiday before heading to the European tour to compete in Super 300 German Open - where Thùy Linh is the current runner-up, Super 1000 All England Open, Super 300 Swiss Open, and Super 300 Orleans Masters.

In the first month of the 2026 season, Nguyễn Thùy Linh skipped the opening tournament of the year - the Super 1000 Malaysia Open, starting her campaign instead at the Super 750 India Open. She defeated former world champion Pusarla Venkata Sindhu but lost to China’s No.1 player Wang Zhiyi in the round of 16.

Last week, Thùy Linh competed at the Super 500 Indonesia Masters, where the Vietnamese badminton star impressively defeated Lin Hsiang-ti and Chiu Pin-chian before exiting in the quarterfinals against Pitchamon Opatniputh.

With Thùy Linh’s withdrawal, Vietnam now has only one representative at the Thailand Masters 2026, Nguyễn Hải Đăng. The country’s top men’s singles player will start from the qualifiers, facing the promising young Chinese player Zhu Xuanchen. This is the same player who eliminated Lê Đức Phát in the opening match of this tournament nearly a year ago.

If he overcomes Zhu, Hải Đăng will need to defeat either Rithvik Sanjeevi Sathish Kumar or Eogene Ewe to reach the main draw.

Additionally, Vietnam’s No.1 men’s doubles pair - Nguyễn Đình Hoàng and Trần Đình Mạnh - are listed as alternates for the tournament.