Rising badminton talent Nhat Nguyen is rapidly closing the gap on the world’s best players. Irish Badminton’s brightest star, he achieved a breakthrough career win in 2022 when he beat Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus at the Thailand Open BWF Tour Super 500 to reach the last 16. The shuttler previously had a year to remember in 2021 when he scored some big wins against the likes of H. S. Prannoy and Srikanth Kidambi after mixing it up with the world’s best. The 2018 European Junior bronze medallist also proudly wore the green, white and gold of his country at his first Olympic Games in Tokyo and narrowly missed out on a World Championship quarterfinal. Having tasted the highest level of success in the last few years, Nguyen is looking to 2023 for more and has his sights firmly set on the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

Born in Vietnam, the young badminton prodigy left for a new life in Dublin, Ireland with his family when he was six years old. He began playing badminton at a local club with his father when he was six, played his first competitive match at 10 years old and could beat his Dad by the time he was 11. A natural talent possessing something special with the racquet, Nguyen joined the national team when he was 14 and became the youngest player to win an Irish senior title the following year.