Tennis player Le Duc Phat - Photo: FBNV
As one of Vietnam's top badminton players currently, Le Duc Phat competes for the National Defense Sports Center 2 (Military Region 7).
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Le Duc Phat is remembered as the only athlete representing the Vietnamese Army at the Summer Games in France. He was also chosen to carry the flag for the Vietnamese delegation at the Paris Olympics.
Recently, the tennis player born in 1998 excitedly showed off his promotion on social media, with a witty announcement: "I've been promoted to First Lieutenant! 16 years of service, forever loving this military uniform."
Le Duc Phat in military uniform - Photo: FBNV
Right below the post, there were hundreds of comments congratulating Le Duc Phat, the tennis player born into a family with a sporting tradition.
His father, Le Van Duc, was a national boxing champion in 1988-1989. From a young age, Phat was exposed to boxing and football, but ultimately decided to focus on badminton after realizing boxing wasn't suitable for him because... he was afraid of getting punched.
At the age of 16, Phat officially joined the professional sports environment within the military. Since then, badminton has become his main career path, alongside his role as a professional soldier.
Three years later, in 2017, Le Duc Phat won his first gold medal at the Pakistan International Series at the age of 19. This achievement helped him break into the top 150 in the world rankings in early 2018.
In 2019, a serious hamstring injury forced Duc Phat to take a long break from competition, while the COVID-19 pandemic continued to affect his competition schedule. By August 2022, he had dropped to world number 464 – his lowest ranking in over six years.
Refusing to give up, he began his journey to regain his form from late 2022 to early 2024. His strategy was to choose to compete in international tournaments within the Challenge or Super 100 series to accumulate points.
Duc Phat and Anh Nguyet - Photo: FBNV
A turning point occurred when he won the Uganda International Challenge in February 2024, which helped him climb the rankings to reach 74th in the world by the end of April 2024, thus qualifying him for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Also in April 2024, Phat was officially promoted from second lieutenant to first lieutenant in the professional military. And after more than a year, the golden boy of badminton received another honor in the military uniform.
In a social media post, Le Duc Phat didn't forget to mention Do Thi Anh Nguyet - Vietnam's top female archer. It is known that Duc Phat and Anh Nguyet publicly announced their relationship in 2024 and are considered a golden couple in Vietnamese sports.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tay-vot-le-duc-phat-khoe-duoc-thang-quan-ham-thuong-uy-20250806204004891.htm
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