Focus on accumulating expertise
A few days ago, Mr. Pham Ngoc Hieu, Director of Smart Education Technology Joint Stock Company (VietED) announced that he had initially fulfilled his promise to sponsor an international competition trip in the World Professional Table Tennis Tournament (WTT) for tennis player Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh. The reason for this came from the fact that VietED had awarded the Vietnamese athlete who won the men's and women's singles championship at the 2024 Southeast Asian Table Tennis Championship by supporting all the costs and procedures to participate in the WTT tournament in Oman in January 2025. In that year's tournament, Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh won the women's singles championship.
Although the women's singles champion Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh was unable to participate due to a shoulder injury, VietED committed to reserve funding to support her to compete in another WTT tournament in 2025. And that is the reason why VietED sponsored Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh's upcoming competition trip to Kazakhstan from August 30 to September 5. Also participating in this competition is Nguyen Anh Tu, another leading Vietnamese table tennis player.
Both will compete in men's singles, women's singles and mixed doubles. This is a playground that gathers many strong players in the world , considered an important professional stepping stone for both players before the 33rd SEA Games, taking place at the end of the year in Thailand. In this playground, registering for the maximum number of events that can be participated in will also help both Nguyen Anh Tu and Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh have many opportunities to compete with strong players in the world . Like last year, when he was the only one participating, Nguyen Anh Tu could only compete in 1 match because he was eliminated in the first round. This year, at least Anh Tu and Dieu Khanh will compete in 2 matches in singles and mixed doubles. That way, we can maximize the resources invested in the trip, thereby achieving the best professional results.
The WTT tournament in Kazakhstan in 2024 will also mark the first time Nguyen Anh Tu has participated in a tournament in this prestigious competition system of world table tennis. Returning from that trip, he shared: “Table tennis is a competitive sport, so each international tournament is an opportunity to accumulate experience and improve one’s skills. For an athlete like me, every opportunity to compete internationally is always very precious.”
Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh, the number 1 female player in Vietnamese table tennis, recently helped the Tran Viet Thang Notary Office table tennis team represent Vietnamese table tennis at the first Southeast Asian Club Championship in 2025 in Bangkok (Thailand) and won the runner-up position. This is a mixed male-female team tournament with the participation of many famous players, some of whom have retired from top competition, some of whom are still competing.
Notably, the Vietnamese table tennis team competing in the tournament is entirely funded by social funds. In addition to Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh, the team also includes players Nguyen Duc Tuan, To Duc Hoang, Le Van Duc, Nguyen Xuan Dien - famous names in the Vietnamese table tennis community. Among them, there is Nguyen Duc Tuan - the men's singles champion at the 31st SEA Games. The 2025 Southeast Asian Club Tournament is the first time it has been held, bringing together strong teams from Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Dieu Khanh shared after the tournament in Bangkok that competing internationally helps to learn a lot from opponents with different playing styles and levels. Therefore, athletes like Vietnam are looking forward to participating in such tournaments.
The difficult problem of table tennis
Compared to other individual sports such as badminton or chess, Vietnamese table tennis players have few opportunities to compete internationally regularly. Meanwhile, badminton players such as Nguyen Thuy Linh, Le Duc Phat or chess player Dau Khuong Duy can participate in dozens of international tournaments each year, thanks to a combination of the sports industry budget, corporate sponsorship and self-funding from the athletes. Thanks to that, Nguyen Thuy Linh has reached the 18th rank in women's badminton in the world, the best ranking for a Vietnamese female player to date. Or chess player Dau Khuong Duy is getting closer and closer to achieving the standard for the title of International Grandmaster.
Also due to lack of funds, Vietnamese table tennis always has to consider carefully when choosing tournaments to participate in. For example, in 2025, Vietnamese table tennis will not participate in the 2025 Asian Cup (February) and the 2025 World Championship (May). In October 2025, the 2025 Asian Table Tennis Championship for Teams will take place in India, coinciding with the final preparation stage for the 33rd SEA Games. Also due to limited funds, managers at the Vietnam Sports Department and the Vietnam Table Tennis Federation are currently looking for suitable solutions to be able to participate in this competition. Because if we compare this trip to the tournament with the long training in China to prepare for the 33rd SEA Games, the funding source may be prioritized for training in China.
Looking at Malaysia, a country that is making strong progress in table tennis in Asia, it can be seen that they are investing systematically by letting their athletes compete regularly in professional world tournaments. The team also hired foreign experts to lead them. As a result, Malaysia won the first bronze medal in the men's team at the 2024 Asian Championship. At the 2024 Southeast Asian Table Tennis Championship, they won 5 out of 7 gold medals - while Vietnam only had 1.
“The most lacking thing for Vietnamese tennis players today is international competition experience,” former national team coach Le Huy once frankly admitted. Without going abroad, without competing with strong opponents, without exposure in a professional environment, it is very difficult to improve. The pressure to win a SEA Games medal therefore weighs even more heavily on a few key players, who are more familiar with… regional competitions than continental ones.
Despite limitations, positive signs have gradually emerged thanks to the socialization model in the past 2 years. Typically, nearly 10 Vietnamese tennis players, including many top players, participated in the 2024 US Open table tennis tournament with funding from businesses.
Or before that, VietED also sponsored Vietnamese tennis players to participate in tournaments in Indonesia (June) and sponsored Nguyen Anh Tu to participate in the WTT system in Kazakhstan (September 2024). Although actively supporting a number of top Vietnamese tennis players to participate in international tournaments, as Mr. Pham Ngoc Hieu - Director of VietED shared, he really hopes to have more businesses accompanying to support Vietnamese tennis players to compete internationally from 5 to 7 tournaments each year. And recently, as mentioned above, tennis players like Dieu Khanh and Duc Tuan participated in the 2025 Southeast Asian Club Tournament with socialized funding.
The Vietnam Table Tennis Federation also identified calling on businesses to provide financial support for athletes to compete internationally as one of the top priorities at present. Because if this problem cannot be solved, Vietnamese table tennis will find it very difficult to achieve the goal of reaching out of Southeast Asia, approaching the continental or world playground.
Foreign trips like those of Anh Tu, Dieu Khanh with support from VietED or the Tran Viet Thang Notary Office table tennis team – need to become the “new normal” instead of just a rare bright spot. When there are enough quantity and quality of trips like that, Vietnamese table tennis can truly hope to escape the shadow of the region, to step up to a higher podium in the continental playground.
Target 1-2 gold medals at SEA Games 33-2025
This year, the Vietnamese table tennis team is striving to win 1 to 2 gold medals at the 33rd SEA Games in 2025. According to the plan, the Vietnamese table tennis team will select a group of key players to conduct a training program in China before participating in the 33rd SEA Games in 2025 in Thailand. This method was previously implemented by the Vietnamese table tennis management during the professional preparation process before the 32nd SEA Games in 2023. In particular, here, Vietnamese athletes will be able to compete with opponents of equal or higher level, thereby ensuring their best performance when participating in the 33rd SEA Games. (Minh Khue)
Source: https://cand.com.vn/van-hoa/bong-ban-viet-nam-can-them-nhung-chuyen-xuat-ngoai-i776559/
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