Nguyen Thuy Linh receives unfortunate news on the world badminton rankings.

Vietnam's number one badminton player will proceed to play in two European events following a premature stop at the All England Open 2026.

Vietnam's leading badminton player, Nguyen Thuy Linh, drops to the 26th position in the world rankings, which will be updated by the BWF (Badminton World Federation) on March 10.

According to precise calculations from the specialized website Statminton, Thuy Linh falls one spot to rank 26 with an unchanged point total of 45,980 compared to last week. The player from Phu Tho province is currently 4,226 points behind the top 20 and has created a gap of 4,670 points from positions outside the top 30.

Last week, Nguyen Thuy Linh competed at the Super 1000 All England Open 2026 held in Birmingham, United Kingdom. The prolonged flight, affected by tense military situations in the Middle East region, left Thuy Linh with little preparation time for her opening match and resulted in her quickly suffering a defeat against Line Christophersen (Denmark).

However, this loss does not impact the points of the player registered with Dong Nai, as in last season, she also lost in the first round to Akane Yamaguchi, having no points to defend.

The reason for the "Vietnamese Badminton Beauty's" drop in the world rankings stems from the rise of Riko Gunji. Thuy Linh's defeated opponent from the semifinals of the German Open 2025 created a major surprise in the first round of this year's All England Open by defeating Han Yue, then losing to compatriot Tomoka Miyazaki in the second round – this was sufficient for her to accumulate valuable points, rising two spots from rank 26 to 24 in the world.

While the group from rank 14 to 15 experienced significant reshuffling, the top 10 in women's singles badminton worldwide saw no fluctuations whatsoever. This year's All England Open championship was insufficient for Wang Zhiyi to usurp An Se-young's position, the gap between Wang and the world number one spot remains very wide: 10,608 points.

This week, Nguyen Thuy Linh will participate in the Super 350 Swiss Open in Basel, Switzerland. Her opponent in the opening match has yet been determined.