Dinh Anh Hoang's request to change the competition content caused chaos for Vietnamese table tennis at SEA Games 33 - Photo: NVCC
Accordingly, this athlete "threatened" to withdraw from the team and not participate in the SEA Games if he was not allowed to compete in the men's singles event, which he believed he was in the best form to compete for a gold medal. After the meeting, the Vietnam Sports Department fulfilled Anh Hoang's wish by allowing him to compete in the men's singles.
The disturbance
At the 33rd SEA Games, table tennis has 7 events and the regulations only allow each athlete to play 2 events. Therefore, when choosing to play men's singles, Anh Hoang had to skip one of the two events: men's doubles and mixed doubles.
But because Anh Hoang had won the SEA Games 32 gold medal in mixed doubles with Tran Mai Ngoc, the duo had the responsibility to maintain their record. Thus, Anh Hoang had to drop out of the men's doubles. And the coaching staff was forced to pair Le Dinh Duc with one of the two athletes Nguyen Anh Tu and Nguyen Duc Tuan in this event.
However, Anh Tu and Duc Tuan are both male singles players. Dinh Duc has never played doubles with either of these two players in an international tournament. Because Anh Tu won the silver medal at SEA Games 32 and Duc Tuan won the gold medal at SEA Games 31, both are seeds at SEA Games 33. As for Anh Hoang playing male singles, because he is not a seed at SEA Games 33, he will fall into a difficult bracket.
Dinh Anh Hoang - Tran Mai Ngoc won the mixed doubles gold medal for Vietnamese table tennis at the 32nd SEA Games - Photo: NAM TRAN
The source of the trouble
According to a former Vietnamese table tennis player who won a SEA Games gold medal, the recent incident was partly due to the preparation process.
"When registering to compete in the 33rd SEA Games, the table tennis team had to select athletes early to send the list to the organizing committee within the deadline specified in the regulations. However, it was not until November 7 that the Vietnamese table tennis team gathered and went for a short training session in China. That caused difficulties for both the coaching staff and the players as there was too little time to test the best options for the events," he shared.
Vietnamese table tennis still has a situation where the team is interfered with by the will of the managers. The pressure to achieve results prevents athletes from competing in their best events. For example, in 2003, Doan Kien Quoc won the national men's singles championship, won a ticket to the 2004 Olympics but was not selected to compete in the men's singles at the SEA Games on home soil.
In 2013, Duong Van Nam won the national men's singles championship but was still not selected to play singles at the SEA Games.
Vietnam table tennis has never had a player requesting to change the event and "threatening" to leave the team right before the SEA Games. Letting Anh Hoang play singles will cause chaos for the team and may greatly affect the results of Vietnam table tennis at the 33rd SEA Games. And if the target is not met, who will be responsible?
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/roi-o-tuyen-bong-ban-viet-nam-20251207093934522.htm
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