Vietnamese table tennis and the problem of keeping the "gold" of SEA Games 33

Stable performance but not easy to repeat

In the last four Games, Vietnamese table tennis has won gold medals: men's team at SEA Games 29, men's doubles at SEA Games 30, men's singles at SEA Games 31 and mixed doubles at SEA Games 32. This achievement affirms remarkable stability in the SEA Games. However, winning 4 gold medals in 4 different events in the last 4 SEA Games also shows that Vietnamese players have not created a truly sustainable "spearhead" to win gold medals over many SEA Games. That is also what makes it difficult for experts to predict with certainty which event Vietnamese table tennis will be able to win gold medals in at the upcoming SEA Games 33.

After the 32nd SEA Games in 2023 in Cambodia, the most recent international achievement of the Vietnamese table tennis team was 1 gold medal, 3 silver medals and 2 bronze medals at the 2024 Southeast Asian Championship. At that time, Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh - a player from Ho Chi Minh City - defeated his opponent Tee Ai Xin (Malaysia) 4-0 to win the women's singles championship. However, this tournament was mainly a competition, because most of the strong teams in the region only sent young forces.

At that time, experts also commented that the achievement did not accurately reflect the correlation between Vietnam and its main rivals in Southeast Asia. In particular, Thailand - the host of SEA Games 33 - is making a strong move with tennis players in the top group of the continent. Besides, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia all have tennis players who regularly compete internationally, maintain high intensity and accumulate significant experience.

In a recent sharing, when mentioning the goal of winning a gold medal for the Vietnamese table tennis team at the 33rd SEA Games, General Secretary of the Vietnam Table Tennis Federation Nguyen Nam Hai was also quite reserved. However, Mr. Nguyen Nam Hai also said that the goal of 1 gold medal is expected to be completed in the doubles event - where Vietnam has made its mark at previous Games. In the last 4 SEA Games, 2/4 of the team's gold medals came from the doubles event. However, to do that, there needs to be a longer, more synchronous and in-depth preparation process than at present.

Preparing for the 33rd SEA Games, the Vietnam Sports Administration and the Vietnam Table Tennis Federation have agreed to use the results of the 2025 National Championship as the main professional basis for selecting the national team.

Accordingly, the group of tennis players with high performance in the tournament are almost certain to get a spot, including Dinh Anh Hoang (national men's singles champion), Nguyen Anh Tu, Doan Ba Tuan Anh, Nguyen Duc Tuan in the men's category; and in the women's category, there are Nguyen Thi Nga (national women's singles champion), Bui Ngoc Lan, Tran Mai Ngoc and Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh.

bong-ban.jpg -0 — Tennis player Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh is expected to make an impression at SEA Games 33.

The above selection of personnel is considered reasonable if based on the results of the 2025 National Table Tennis Tournament for Strong Teams, which just ended in Vinh Yen ( Phu Tho ). This is a tournament that helps the coaching staff further evaluate the professional capacity of the athletes, in which almost all the key players of the team maintain their form. However, the fact that the 38-year-old veteran player Mai Hoang My Trang won the women's singles championship also raises a problem for the managers and coaching staff of the team, which is the instability of the players, especially in the ability to handle key moments.

At SEA Games 33, that could make a difference. And that is something that needs to be addressed immediately for Vietnamese tennis players if they don’t want to run out of steam.

Need more international competition opportunities

According to the plan, the Vietnamese table tennis team will have a training trip in China lasting about 3 weeks before leaving for Thailand to attend the 33rd SEA Games. This is considered an important preparation step, because athletes need to be trained in a high-intensity and high-speed environment.

In the past few months, some players like Anh Tu and Dieu Khanh have also participated in tournaments in the professional competition system of World Table Tennis (WTT) such as WTT Feeder Vientiane (Laos, August) or WTT Kazakhstan (September). However, according to experts, that is not enough to improve their skills and expertise. Many players in the region such as Singapore or Thailand regularly participate in international tournaments at the highest level, so their world rankings are much higher than Vietnamese players. Not to mention, their reflexes, tactics and ability to control and adjust the match are much better.

In fact, the fact that Vietnamese tennis players have been able to participate in a number of international tournaments in recent times has been a great effort in the socialization of the Vietnam Table Tennis Federation as well as thanks to the voluntary, non-demanding companionship of some businesses. And to solve the international competition of Vietnamese tennis players, it still needs the companionship of businesses, the dynamism of the Vietnam Table Tennis Federation and the coordination from the athletes' management unit.

For example, in Hanoi, nearly ten years ago, sending athletes for long-term training abroad was quite favorable, helping to significantly improve the professional capacity of athletes and coaches. The national team also benefited when athletes joined the team. But currently, implementing international training trips is a bottleneck for Hanoi sports. Short-term training trips often do not bring much professional benefits to athletes. In addition, proposing to increase short-term international training trips is not easy. This more or less affects the maintenance of stability, not to mention improving the level of tennis players, especially Nguyen Anh Tu and Nguyen Thi Nga - who need to maintain a high competition pace to maintain their form.

General Secretary of the Vietnam Table Tennis Federation Nguyen Nam Hai frankly shared: “Reality shows that Vietnamese athletes are still limited in their ability to compete in decisive matches. We need to adjust training to increase international exposure, so that athletes can compete more often. Only when they are regularly in this environment can they maintain stability and alertness at important moments.”

SEA Games 33 will be an important measure of the investment efficiency of Vietnamese table tennis. If the target of 1 gold medal is achieved, the team will extend its streak of achievements to 5 consecutive Games. However, whether or not the target is achieved, the development strategy, especially the training policy and international competition for athletes, still needs to be reviewed and promoted further.

Identify the spearhead for the team
At present, Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh is considered the biggest hope in the women's category, while Nguyen Anh Tu is still the main player of the men's team. Dinh Anh Hoang, Doan Ba Tuan Anh and Nguyen Duc Tuan will most likely be selected for the doubles category, where Vietnam is determined to have the ability to compete for gold medals at the upcoming SEA Games.
Minh Khue

Source: https://cand.com.vn/the-thao/bong-ban-viet-nam-va-bai-toan-giu-vang-sea-games-33-i784021/