New hope for Vietnamese men's badminton doubles

Throughout the history since the Vietnam Open tournament was founded in 1996 in Ho Chi Minh City, there has never been a Vietnamese men's pair in the quarterfinals.

After the historic men's doubles championship at the Vietnam International Badminton Challenge 2025 (Hanoi) - the first men's doubles title of Vietnam, Nguyen Dinh Hoang and Tran Dinh Manh (both born in 2003, in Lam Dong) continued to write a new milestone. The pair ranked 96th in the world reached the quarterfinals of the men's doubles of the Vietnam Open 2025.

Throughout the history of the Vietnam Open tournament since its inception in 1996 in Ho Chi Minh City, there has never been a Vietnamese men's pair in the quarterfinals. Notably, before the tournament, the Dinh Hoang - Dinh Manh pair was not highly rated when they fell into the bracket with the No. 1 and No. 6 seeds. However, this duo excellently overcame the Singaporean pair in the first round in 3 sets, then defeated the No. 6 seed of Chinese Taipei in a dramatic match with a close score of 22-20, 24-22.

Entering the quarterfinals, when the No. 1 seed was unexpectedly eliminated, Hoang - Manh were expected to continue to create miracles when they only met the lower-ranked Chinese Taipei pair. But after dragging the battle to set 3, they could not maintain the game and accepted to stop.

However, this achievement still has great significance for badminton in general and men's doubles in particular. Before that, the rare marks of Vietnamese badminton in doubles at this high-level international tournament were very few. Only the women's pair Tran Thi Thanh Thao - Le Thi Mai Anh reached the semi-finals in 2007 and the mixed pair Ho Van Loi - Nguyen Thi Thanh Tien reached the semi-finals in 1996 in nearly 20 years.

Dinh Hoang (left) and Dinh Manh set a milestone for men's doubles badminton at the Vietnam Open 2025

Sharing at the tournament, Dinh Hoang admitted: "Our level is only at the International Challenge and International Series level, while Vietnam Open belongs to the Super 100 system of BWF - Badminton World Federation. But when participating, we always give the audience good shots". Dinh Manh frankly expressed: "We need to compete more, practice more to improve our level".

Dinh Hoang and Dinh Manh were called up to the Vietnam youth team in 2014. After winning the gold medal at the 2020 National Tennis Championship, they rose to the No. 1 position in Vietnam's men's doubles from 2024 until now.

Currently, the couple aims to compete well at the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand, and further aim to reach the world's top 50 to win a ticket to the 2028 Olympics.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/hy-vong-moi-cua-doi-nam-cau-long-viet-nam-196250913195509289.htm