SEA Games 33 is not simple for table tennis

Achievable goals

At the recent announcement ceremony of the 43rd National Table Tennis Championship - Nhan Dan Newspaper in 2025, Mr. Phan Anh Tuan - in charge of table tennis, Vietnam Sports Department said that the goal of the Vietnamese table tennis team at the 33rd SEA Games is to win at least 1 gold medal. That is also an achievable goal for the team because in many previous SEA Games, the table tennis team won gold medals, even though the gold medals at each SEA Games were in different events.

Most recently, at the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia, Vietnamese table tennis won the gold medal in mixed doubles thanks to the duo Dinh Anh Hoang - Tran Mai Ngoc. In addition, Nguyen Anh Tu won the silver medal in men's singles; Nguyen Duc Tuan (men's singles), Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh (women's singles) and the two teams of men and women in the men's team event, the women's team won the bronze medal. Meanwhile, at the 2024 Southeast Asian Table Tennis Championship, Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh won the women's singles championship. These achievements are considered the basis for setting the target for the Vietnamese table tennis team to win at least 1 gold medal at the 33rd SEA Games.

Vietnamese players participating in the 2024 Southeast Asian Table Tennis Championship. Photo: Nguyen Minh

However, in the turbulent flow of world table tennis, where players consider professional tournaments held continuously in many countries or international training trips to improve their skills, Vietnamese table tennis is still almost out of the picture. Information on the sidelines of the announcement ceremony of the 43rd National Table Tennis Championship - Nhan Dan Newspaper in 2025 shows that to prepare for this year's tournament, out of 21 participating teams, only the Hanoi team and the T&T People's Police went to China for training. Information from the training trip to China by coach Vu Manh Cuong (T&T People's Police) shows that the training trip has brought many positive effects on the expertise and spirit of the team's players. This makes the People's Police emerge as the brightest candidate for the overall championship. This is also normal when currently, the T&T People's Police is receiving the best investment in the Vietnamese table tennis village.

The story of only 2 teams going abroad for training to prepare for the national championship also shows the difficulties in raising the level of Vietnamese tennis players. The main problem lies in the lack of funding for foreign training in most localities. Or due to the concept of the management unit of some teams when they have to wait until the National Sports Festival to send athletes for training.

Meanwhile, top players always want to train and compete abroad. Because only then can they improve their level, compete for gold medals at the SEA Games and further improve the position of Vietnamese table tennis. When resources from the governing body are limited, investment and support from businesses will be needed. But things are not simple because not many businesses are interested in this. Most obviously, since the beginning of 2025 until now, no Vietnamese player has participated in a tournament in the professional competition system of world table tennis.

Still have to come from many resources

In a recent exchange, Mr. Phan Anh Tuan - in charge of table tennis, Vietnam Sports Department also admitted that for a long time, the international competition funding for the sport has not been enough to meet the needs of improving the level of key, top players. For example, in preparation for the 33rd SEA Games, the funding for the sport can meet the training requirements of the team in China for 1-2 months, with about 10 athletes and 3 coaches. During this training trip, of course, there will be some tournaments here. But it is difficult to get athletes to compete internationally more.

Therefore, to solve the problem of international competition funding for athletes, we will still have to rely on the athletes' governing bodies, businesses, and families. Currently, the most feasible source of funding is still from governing bodies and businesses.

On the side of the athletes' governing bodies, few units consider table tennis as a key sport when the competition is too fierce besides always having 7 sets of medals in the national tournament system as well as the National Sports Festival. The number of such sets of medals is not much compared to other sports. And at that time, the question of which sport to invest in to win gold medals is always raised and often leans towards sports with more sets of medals than table tennis. Therefore, as people in the profession explain, that is one of the reasons why very few teams are able to go abroad for training.

Fortunately, there are now many businesses and athletes' families who dare to invest more in Vietnam's top athletes as well as their children to pursue professional table tennis.

As for the 2024 Southeast Asian Table Tennis Championship (November 2024), SmartEducation Technology Joint Stock Company (VietED) announced its sponsorship for the trip to compete in the table tennis tournament of the World Professional Table Tennis Tournament (WTT) in Oman in January 2025, with an estimated total cost of nearly 100 million VND for the Vietnamese athlete who won the women's singles championship, Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh.

However, due to a shoulder injury, wanting to take time to completely treat it, Dieu Khanh did not participate in the WTT tournament in Oman. VietED Company has reserved funding for Dieu Khanh to participate in another tournament in the WTT system in 2025. Recently, VietED announced that it has registered Dieu Khanh to participate in a professional tournament under the WTT system in Kazakhstan in September 2025.

In addition to Dieu Khanh, VietED is also expected to sponsor tennis player Nguyen Anh Tu to participate in this tournament so that both can participate in the singles and the men's and women's doubles. This will also benefit the national team in their preparation for the 33rd SEA Games.

It should also be mentioned that in 2024, VietED sponsored two Vietnamese tennis players, including Nguyen Anh Tu, to compete in international tournaments in Indonesia (June) and Kazakhstan (September). Or in December 2024, a series of Vietnamese tennis players were sponsored by a business to compete in the US Open.

Meanwhile, in Hanoi, there is also information that athletes' families are willing to spend billions of dong so that their children can train long-term (at least about 3 years) in China.

However, 1-2 businesses accompanying Vietnamese tennis players to compete internationally is not enough. They can only support athletes to participate in 2-3 international tournaments each year while top Vietnamese tennis players need to participate in at least 7-10 international tournaments each year. Even in Southeast Asia, Malaysian, Thai, and Singaporean tennis players compete internationally continuously with about 7-10 international tournaments/year and have reached continental medals. It is no coincidence that the Vietnam Table Tennis Federation is prioritizing attracting businesses to support top tennis players to compete internationally.

Everyone understands that more businesses are still needed to contribute to raising the level of the players, ensuring that they achieve the minimum goal of Vietnamese table tennis in the SEA Games, the nearest of which is the 33rd SEA Games, and further, to reach the continental medals instead of being satisfied with the playgrounds in Southeast Asia.

Attractive prizes with table tennis

The total prize value is up to 500 million VND. Of which, the men's and women's team champions receive 50 million VND, the men's and women's singles champions receive 30 million VND. This is considered an attractive reward in the Vietnamese table tennis community. The results of the National Table Tennis Championship - Nhan Dan Newspaper in 2025 are the basis for selecting athletes for the national team to prepare for the SEA Games, which is considered suitable for Vietnamese players. ( Minh Khue )

Source: https://cand.com.vn/the-thao/sea-games-33-khong-don-gian-voi-bong-ban-i768389/