When Vietnamese table tennis dares to dream and dares to do

Athletes Anh Tu (right) and Dieu Khanh excellently entered the round of 16 of the WTT Contender World Table Tennis Championship 2025. Photo: Pham Ngoc

In the preliminary round of mixed doubles, the Anh Tu – Dieu Khanh pair overcame the host Kazakhstan duo to win a ticket to the official round of 16 pairs. This is the first time in history that Vietnamese table tennis has had a mixed pair participating in the main round of a tournament under the WTT world professional table tennis system. In the round of 16 pairs, they lost to Park Gyuhyeon – Kim Nayeong (Korea) 0-3, but the milestone was set.

Previously, in the men's singles qualifying round, Nguyen Anh Tu lost to Russian player Evgeny Tikhonov 1-3, stopping in the first match. In the women's singles, Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh excellently defeated A. Bakhyt (Kazakhstan) 3-2 but then lost 0-3 to Asel Erkebaeva (Uzbekistan). Although they did not go far in the singles, both of them left their mark in the doubles.

Notably, the two players’ competition trip was entirely funded by social resources, sponsored by Smart Education Technology Joint Stock Company (VietED) with a budget of more than 200 million VND. Thanks to that, they have more opportunities to compete internationally when competing in both singles and doubles. Mr. Pham Ngoc Hieu – Director of VietED, who directly accompanied them, believes that this initial success will further motivate Vietnamese athletes to dare to dream big and dare to realize their dreams.

Tennis player Anh Tu affirmed that participating in tournaments in the WTT system helps improve his skills. Photo: Pham Ngoc

Tennis player Anh Tu affirmed that continuously participating in tournaments within the WTT system helps improve his skills. He also hopes to continuously participate in tournaments like the above.

However, competition funding is a major obstacle for Vietnamese table tennis as funding from the budget and the Vietnam Table Tennis Federation is limited. Lack of international competition has caused many Vietnamese players to not have their names on the world rankings and in fact, Vietnamese table tennis is lagging behind many other table tennis countries in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia.

In 2024, Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh won the gold medal in the women's singles at the Southeast Asian Championship. That achievement helped her receive VietED's sponsorship to participate in the WTT. And it is these socialization efforts that have helped Vietnamese table tennis reach a new milestone.

Nguyen Anh Tu and Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh compete in mixed doubles at WTT Contender Kazakhstan. Photo: Pham Ngoc.

In 2025, both are aiming for the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand. Anh Tu won a silver medal in men's singles at the 32nd SEA Games, while Dieu Khanh won a bronze medal in women's singles.

This milestone in Kazakhstan will be an important stepping stone for Vietnamese table tennis to confidently step into other big playgrounds. This also sends a message that Vietnamese table tennis can only go far with the sustainable support of the business community. Now, every ticket to the world playground needs the support of socialized resources, because the state budget can hardly cover it. If there are more businesses like VietED accompanying, Vietnamese tennis players will have the opportunity to compete internationally regularly, improve their rankings, and more importantly, realize the dream of reaching the continental and world level.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/khi-bong-ban-viet-nam-dam-mo-dam-thuc-hien-715422.html