Two national champions unexpectedly compete in Mister Vietnam 2024 to… “change their luck”

Two national champions reveal surprising wishes when competing in Mister Vietnam

Nguyen Phuc Loc - volleyball player, born in 1995, hometown Ben Tre . He is 1m93 tall, is a National Champion and is praised by the press as "Vietnam's volleyball hotboy". Tran Le Quoc Dat - professional athlete, born in 1996, hometown Tay Ninh, 1m80 tall. Currently, Quoc Dat is a National Champion in the decathlon. Phuc Loc and Quoc Dat are 2 of 60 faces entering the preliminary round of Mister Vietnam season 2, 2024. These are also two faces that left a lot of impression on the Organizing Committee, when they knew that both champions decided to participate in the competition, because they are already prominent faces in the field of sports.

Nguyen Phuc Loc was called up to the national team to participate in the 2019 Seagame, was awarded the title of National Master for 5 consecutive years, most recently won the Gold Medal of the 2023 National Volleyball Championship, the 2020 National Silver Medal and many other large and small medals in the country. Phuc Loc also played for the two leading volleyball clubs in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City and Sanest Khanh Hoa. Currently, Phuc Loc is studying for a bachelor's degree in sports coaching and is an athlete of the Sanest Khanh Hoa Volleyball Club.

Nguyen Phuc Loc - volleyball player. (Photo: Organizing Committee)

Tran Le Quoc Dat - professional athlete. (Photo: Organizing Committee)

Tran Le Quoc Dat has been involved in sports for 12 years, competing professionally for Tay Ninh. In addition to being a National Master in the decathlon, Quoc Dat is an active and versatile young man. Quoc Dat participates in many sports movements of his home province such as: football, volleyball, running... and actively donates to charitable activities of the province. Tran Le Quoc Dat won 2 Silver Medals at the National Youth Athletics Championship 2014; 2 Gold Medals at the National Youth Athletics Championship 2015, Bronze Medal at the Hanoi Open Athletics Championship 2016, Bronze Medal at the National Athletics Championship 2020... In 2023, Quoc Dat continues to achieve "National Master" at the National Athletics Championship held in October 2023.

Looking at the achievements of the two boys, no one would think that behind them there are surprising hidden corners when pursuing a sports career.

Nguyen Phuc Loc shared that, born into difficult circumstances, Loc had to choose sports since high school because he did not have the financial means to go to university, following sports would help Loc earn money to support his family. However, everything did not come easy for Loc and he constantly faced adversity. Loc was once considered incapable and had to go through many hardships and internal struggles to achieve the achievements he has today.

When he first started his volleyball career, Loc was fired twice because he was judged to be not capable of meeting the professional requirements. But, fortunately, some coaches saw Loc's ability and efforts and kept Loc. From then on, Loc realized that, with his situation, if he did not try to pursue sports, he would not be able to go to university or do anything else besides work as a factory worker, do other manual jobs, return to the days of waiting tables, following the lion dance troupe and working for a coconut factory to have money to go to school and support his mother like before he entered sports. From then on, Loc has made efforts to gradually assert his position, even though the path has always been quite bumpy, arduous and he has encountered major and minor injuries. In particular, Loc suffered a serious spinal injury. Up to now, to continue pursuing his sports career, Loc still has to use painkillers every day when training at high intensity.

Tran Quoc Dat was not at a "starting line" as difficult as Nguyen Phuc Loc, but his family was not well off. When Dat decided to pursue a sports career, the initial training and competition required a lot of specialized equipment to better serve the competition. To have money to buy those equipment, Dat's parents had to work extra to have enough money for Dat to buy the necessary things. In Dat's heart, he will never forget those difficult days and the wholehearted love his parents had for him. Dat himself also had to go through many hardships to be able to follow the sports path. "Athletes are only for those who are truly passionate, persistent, try hard to overcome all difficulties, and ignore their fear of failure to be able to train and compete successfully" - Tran Quoc Dat shared.

Dat's path to success can be considered a path of blood and tears. In the early days of pursuing sports, Dat was extremely pessimistic because new athletes were not cared for and invested in, so Dat had to try very hard to stand firm until now. Dat always remembers an injury that haunted his life, that was at the National Sports Festival in 2018, Dat was a bright candidate for the gold medal. But only 15 days before the competition, during a pole vault practice session, Dat fell off the mattress from a height of more than 4m onto the road and caused Dat to sprain his ankle, which took 2 months of treatment without recovery. That also meant that all the efforts that year went down the drain. Injury was also the thing that hindered Dat the most over the years. Not to mention, Dat was the only child in the family, every time he heard news of an injury, his family was very worried and advised Dat to give up. Many times Dat's mother shed tears because Dat suffered a very serious injury but hid it from his family, until his mother unexpectedly came to Ho Chi Minh City to visit him. If he had not been determined and persistent to the end, Dat would have given up pursuing sports because of these injuries.

Nguyen Phuc Loc also confided that, in addition to facing difficulties in training, with injuries that can affect their entire life, their sports life is also quite short. Besides, not every athlete has the salary and bonus they want, there are still many athletes in many sports who have difficulties because of low income. Both Loc and Dat or any athlete are constantly facing the pressure to assert themselves, maintain their position and rise up. The pressure of competition makes them lose sleep regularly, easily lose weight and suffer from mental stress. However, with their love for sports, both Loc and Dat overcome themselves, constantly strive to have proud achievements and positions.

Two national champions unexpectedly competed in Mister Vietnam 2024 to… “change their fortunes”. (Photo: Organizing Committee)

The fact that two Grandmasters unexpectedly registered and participated in Mister Vietnam season 2-2024 is considered a surprise to the beauty-loving community. Everyone thought that, with their golden record of achievements, both of them could become good coaches, even like Nguyen Phuc Loc who is studying for a bachelor's degree in coaching.

Standing at 1.93m tall, Nguyen Phuc Loc revealed that the reason for participating in the art path in general and becoming a model in particular was his passion since childhood but he did not have the conditions to reach this field. When Mister Vietnam recruited, Nguyen Phuc Loc registered to find a new turning point in his life. According to Phuc Loc, this year's Mister Vietnam has the criteria to find knowledgeable, dynamic candidates, spreading positive things to the community, willing to polish "rough gems" to become bright, valuable gems. Phuc Loc found it suitable for his aspirations, which was the motivation to "risk" himself to register. "I want to be a representative of a "rough gem" from sports who dares to step into a completely new field to inspire friends in the field of sports to be able to confidently pursue their dreams like me" - Nguyen Phuc Loc shared.

Nguyen Phuc Loc also did not hesitate to reveal his hope that he would have the opportunity to "change his luck" to help his family and himself have a better life. Tran Le Quoc Dat participated in Mister Vietnam to see what he could do outside of sports and wanted to break his own limits.

"I often hear people say that athletes are very dry, contrary to art, especially models. So I am determined to prove to everyone that I can do what people think is impossible. I also want to spread this spirit to everyone through the competition, that if you try and are determined to overcome yourself, you will be able to do things beyond your limits. That is what we always try to prove when competing in sports" - Tran Le Quoc Dat shared.

When asked, if they succeed in their artistic career and have better financial situation, what will Loc and Dat do first, both answered that they will take care of their parents and compensate for the hardships of their family first. Nguyen Phuc Loc wishes to complete the house for his parents and grandmother, find better medical treatment conditions and hire someone to take care of his father, open a small restaurant for his mother so that she does not have to stay up late and wake up early to go to work at the factory at the age of nearly 60 with an income of less than 150,000 VND/day. Tran Le Quoc Dat also hopes to have the conditions to take care of his parents and grandmother with the best things to compensate for the family's hard work in raising money to support him in pursuing his sports career. "I hope my parents will be proud and smile happily at what their son has done" - Quoc Dat expressed.

Tran Le Quoc Dat (right) participated in Mister Vietnam to see what he could do outside of sports and wanted to break his own limits. (Photo: Organizing Committee)

Sharing about the two Grandmasters participating in the preliminary round of Mister Vietnam season 2 in 2024, Mr. Phuc Nguyen - Chairman of the contest affirmed: "With the stature of a national contest, Mister Vietnam is not an entertainment show, we want to find candidates with real ability to become a typical, dynamic role model, inspiring positive living for young people, ready to step into the international arena to conquer victory, maintain Vietnam's leading position in the world's largest men's contests, ready to participate in international fashion shows...".

At the end of 2023, to kick off the contest, the Mister Vietnam season 2 Organizing Committee invited the reigning Miss Supranational 2023 - Andrea Aguilera; the reigning Mister International 2023 - Kim Goodburn to Vietnam to participate in this promotional campaign. The campaign also gathered all the faces of the world's top contests from Leading Media such as: Miss Supranational runner-up Dang Thanh Ngan; Manhunt International 2017 Truong Ngoc Tinh; Mister International 2018 Trinh Bao; Mister Global 2021 Danh Chieu Linh... along with famous male models who grew up from the Mister Vietnam 2019 contest to participate. In particular, the appearance of international supermodel Vu Ha Anh promises to be an explosive factor in Mister Vietnam season 2.

Source: https://danviet.vn/hai-kien-tuong-quoc-gia-bat-ngo-thi-mister-vietnam-2024-de-doi-van-2024042213591819.htm