Vietnam: The difficult problem of being the top scorer at SEA Games 33 in Thailand

Without Bich Tuyen, the burden will fall on Thanh Thuy and her teammates in the race to the gold medal at SEA Games 33.

Difficulty on top of difficulty

The women's volleyball team is heading to the 33rd SEA Games with a historic goal: toppling Thailand's No. 1 position. It must be said that this is a special courage of volleyball players, because Thai women's volleyball can be considered a "giant" in Southeast Asia, having dominated since 1995 until now.

In the last three SEA Games, coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet and his team won silver medals, behind Thailand. The positive results in recent times on many fronts, from the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou or international tournaments, have inspired the women's volleyball team to be more confident. Especially at the 2025 SEA V-League Women's Volleyball Championship in August in Ninh Binh , Tran Thi Thanh Thuy and her teammates came from behind to defeat Thailand.

Nguyen Thi Oanh will be the biggest hope of Vietnamese athletics at the 33rd SEA Games.

However, after the controversy over gender issues at the U21 World Championship in Indonesia, the Vietnamese women's volleyball team will not have Nguyen Thi Bich Tuyen in the 33rd SEA Games. Although the Vietnam Volleyball Federation (VFV) still affirms its goal of winning the gold medal, it is clear that defeating the Thais on Thai soil has become an extremely big challenge.

In addition to the women's volleyball team, athletics and swimming also face a difficult problem in terms of personnel. After Anh Vien retired, the hope of Vietnamese swimming rested on Huy Hoang, Tran Hung Nguyen or Pham Thanh Bao. Swimmer Huy Hoang won the SEA Games gold medal 5 times and is still maintaining a stable performance. However, the other faces are still quite young, needing time to accumulate experience and skills such as Vo Thi My Tien, Pham Thi Van, Tuan Anh...

Athletics is facing an even more difficult problem in terms of personnel when Nguyen Thi Huyen left the track and recently, Tran Thi Nhi Yen also retired for personal reasons. It is difficult to train an experienced athlete like Nhi Yen. She participated in the 32nd SEA Games, the 19th Asian Games and the Asian Athletics Championships. In the 100m women's race at the 2025 Asian Championships, Nhi Yen won a bronze medal with a time of 11 seconds 54.

Huy Hoang is maintaining stable performance before SEA Games 33

The burden of the medals rests on the shoulders of the “golden girl” Nguyen Thi Oanh. Former Head of the Athletics Department (Department of Sports and Physical Training) Duong Duc Thuy, when speaking with Tien Phong, said that after the 19th Asiad (Hangzhou), athletics needed to consolidate after losing the leading position to Thailand.

Waiting for football gold medal

Thailand is still the number 1 power in Southeast Asia when it comes to the number of times they have won the Games. The Thais have also dominated the “queen” events of the SEA Games for many years, from athletics to swimming, shooting, football, etc.

As the host, Thailand is focusing on preparing for the 33rd SEA Games. In football, the President of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT), Madam Pang, even wants to win all the gold medals. This partly shows that Thailand's desire to regain the No. 1 position from Vietnam after 2 SEA Games is a huge desire.

U23 Vietnam is being "taken care of" carefully for the goal of winning gold medal in Thailand.

In men's football alone, the competition with Thailand at the SEA Games is expected to be particularly fierce. However, this is also a sport in which Vietnam has a chance to defeat its opponents. The Vietnam U23 team has been invested in thoroughly and systematically over the past 2 years. Young faces such as Khuat Van Khang, Nguyen Quoc Viet, Pham Ly Duc, Dinh Bac... have been "taken care of" very carefully by the VFF, creating opportunities to compete and compete in many international tournaments.

Most recently, U23 Vietnam just won the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship in Indonesia, and also passed the 2026 Asian U23 Qualifiers. In early October, coach Kim Sang-sik's team continued to be trained by the VFF in the UAE. In the context of competing for the top position of the entire delegation with Thailand is a difficult task, Vietnam can focus on defeating the Thais in key events and the "queen" event of the congress.