Vietnamese table tennis has difficulty competing for Olympic tickets in 2024

Enough Southeast Asian talent

On April 23, the tournament organizers announced the players (male and female) who will participate in this match. The Vietnamese table tennis team officially registered four players to compete, including: Nguyen Anh Tu, Dinh Anh Hoang (men), Mai Hoang My Trang, Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh (women).

Meanwhile, participating Southeast Asian players include Izaac Quek, Pang Yew En Koen (Singapore), Nayre Jann Mari, Misal John Russell (Philippines), Niman Nikola, Susilo Braydon (Indonesia), Choong Javen, Wong Qi Shen (Malaysia) and the two host Thai players, Sanguansin Phakpoom and Thanmathikom Napat, in the men’s and women’s events are Aminah Siti (Indonesia), Zeng Jian, Zhou Jingyi (Singapore), Cruz Kheith, Laude Joyce (Philippines). , Ho Ting, Chang Li Sian Alice (Malaysia).

The Asian Table Tennis Federation organizes a regional qualifying tournament for table tennis to take place in Bangkok (Thailand) from May 8. In particular, the qualifying round of the Southeast Asia region is held in the Asian round.

The Vietnamese table tennis team confirmed that it is not eligible to compete in the Asian Olympic qualifying tournament due to its absence from many international tournaments in recent years. That’s why 4 Vietnamese tennis players only have enough opportunity to compete in the Southeast Asia Olympic qualifying tournament. According to regulations, this Southeast Asia Olympic qualifying tournament will compete in men’s and women’s singles matches and only award 2 official spots (one male, one female) to the champions.

“The Vietnamese table tennis team has preliminary information about the registered players. We are still focusing on professional training. All are still waiting for the draw. Vietnamese athletes are practicing to prepare professionally and we try to do our best when the tournament takes place,” said head coach Doan Kien Quoc of the Vietnamese table tennis team.

Dreams waiting to come true

The last time Vietnamese table tennis participated in an Olympic qualifying tournament was in 2008. Since then, Vietnamese table tennis has not competed in any additional Olympic qualifying tournaments. Four players Nguyen Anh Tu, Dinh Anh Hoang, Mai Hoang My Trang, and Nguyen Khoa Dieu Khanh are the four people with the best domestic professional results in the 2023 national table tennis championship.

Notably, this is the first time they have participated in the Olympic qualifying tournament to find a chance to attend the 2024 Paris (France) Olympics. During the period of Vietnamese sports preparing for the Tokyo Olympics (Japan) 2020, Vietnamese table tennis had planned to compete in the Olympic qualifying tournament, but due to difficulties due to the COVID-19 epidemic, everything had to be postponed, so the players of the team that missed one match.

As soon as there was an announcement about the list of athletes registered for this Southeast Asia Olympic qualifying tournament, General Secretary of the Vietnam Table Tennis Federation – Mr. Phan Anh Tuan commented that this will be a difficult match for Vietnamese tennis players and many other competitors.

Because, the two top Singaporean players currently holding the men’s singles and women’s singles gold medals at SEA Games 32, Izaac Quek and Zeng Jian, will compete. Both of the above players in Singapore table tennis have confirmed their ability to compete in tournaments in Southeast Asia recently.

At the SEA Games 32 men’s singles table tennis final, Nguyen Anh Tu lost to Izaac Quek. The most difficult point of Vietnamese table tennis is that athletes have few opportunities to compete.

We rarely bring athletes to compete in international tournaments in Southeast Asia, let alone Asia. Throughout the time of training to prepare for the Olympic qualifying tournament, four Vietnamese tennis players only practiced domestically. Currently, they are being trained in Nanning (China) and the program lasts until April 30.