Confident in expertise
I am maintaining the best spirit to practice and ready to participate in the World Challenge Cup in Uzbekistan. This is the first international program this year, so not only me, but all athletes must focus on preparing, maintaining the spirit to achieve the best technique," Nguyen Van Khanh Phong shared.
The gym of the Vietnamese Gymnastics Team at the National High-Level Athlete Training Center is not closed but busy all day of the week. Even during the April 30 - May 1 holiday, Nguyen Van Khanh Phong and his teammates still regularly go to the training ground. After SEA Games 33 closed in Thailand at the end of last year, Nguyen Van Khanh Phong returned to training with the Vietnamese Gymnastics Team from January 2026.
Recalling his competition memories in Thailand, Khanh Phong said that his Gold Medal in the individual wreath event at SEA Games 33 was realized by the most thorough preparation. "I went out to compete with the most concentration in Thailand. Therefore, the coaching staff and myself understand that the wreath performance is not wrong. I had good results and won the Gold Medal," Khanh Phong expressed.
Exactly one year ago, Khanh Phong won a Silver Medal in the singles rings event at the 2025 World Challenge Cup held in Bulgaria. Before participating in the above tournament, many predictions said that Khanh Phong received confidence in having a chance to win a Gold Medal. However, when returning home after the 2025 World Challenge Cup in Bulgaria, the male player from Ho Chi Minh City humbly realized that he needed to improve some techniques to be more perfect.
At that time, Khanh Phong once told the media: "This Silver Medal is a good result that I have achieved. But for me, there are still many goals ahead. I really want to have the opportunity to return to the World Challenge Cup to find opportunities to change the color of the medal".
After a year, Khanh Phong is having the opportunity to compete in the 2026 Challenge World Cup as expected. This article is also the time when Khanh Phong and the main players of the Vietnamese Gymnastics Team enter the final days of preparation and are ready to go to Uzbekistan to compete.
Important step of ASIAD 20
The 2026 Challenge World Cup will be Nguyen Van Khanh Phong's starting international tournament. The most important goal that the Vietnamese Gymnastics Team set for this male athlete is to defend the Silver Medal in the Wheeled Luge event at ASIAD 20.
3 years ago, Nguyen Van Khanh Phong made Vietnamese gymnastics professionals burst with emotion when he won a Silver Medal at ASIAD 19 held in Hangzhou (China).
Entering the list of 8 best players in the qualifying round, Khanh Phong confidently performed the men's singles bow dance in the final and won second place overall. The player of the Vietnamese Gymnastics Team only lost to athlete Lan Xingyu (China) in the final competition.
At that time, Lan Xingyu achieved 15.433 points to get the Gold Medal, while Khanh Phong achieved 14.600 points and received the ASIAD Silver Medal 19. Statistics from the Vietnam Gymnastics Federation show that Khanh Phong is the only male athlete of Vietnam Gymnastics to have won a Silver Medal at the ASIAD arena so far. We once won the first Silver Medal, but it belonged to the women's event of athlete Phan Thanh Thi Ha Thanh at the 2014 ASIAD in Korea.
From ASIAD 19, after 3 years, Nguyen Van Khanh Phong gained more experience through international competitions and affirmed himself from tournaments at the World Cup or Asian Championship level. "Surely the competition for achievements at ASIAD 20 will be very fierce. Each athlete has strengths when performing, but I understand that host Japan owns many good athletes, so they will make the teams wary," Khanh Phong once expressed.
After the 2026 Challenge Cup, Nguyen Van Khanh Phong will continue to participate in the 2026 Asian Championship in June. The male athlete himself said that the 2026 Asian Championship will be a valuable opportunity for him to grasp the level as well as the preparation of his opponents in the rings event. Because usually, outstanding faces at the Asian Championship will be present in the ASIAD arena.
“The top priority is that we need to maintain a comfortable psychological state for athletes. Gymnastics is a special sport with the accuracy of each technique and movement when performed. Therefore, athletes with good spirits will not be under pressure and avoid maximum errors. Khanh Phong and the best athletes of the Vietnamese Gymnastics Team are training with guaranteed conditions. They are maintaining their determination to conquer the important tournament,” shared a representative of the coaching staff.
The coaching staff of the Vietnamese Gymnastics Team decided to send forces to participate in the 2026 World Challenge Cup held in Uzbekistan from May 21 to 24 with forces including: Vu Tien Anh, Dang Ngoc Xuan Thien, Nguyen Van Khanh Phong, Pham Phuoc Hai and Nguyen Thi Quynh Nhu. Athletes are registered to participate in individual sports according to their personal strengths and goals of striving to win medals in Uzbekistan.
Nguyen Van Khanh Phong was born in 2002 in Ho Chi Minh City. The male athlete was allowed by his family to practice gymnastics from the age of 7. At the age of 13, Khanh Phong was one of the young athletes that Ho Chi Minh City Sports began to focus on training key for long-term development.
In his career, Nguyen Van Khanh Phong started participating in the Southeast Asian Games, SEA Games 31 in Vietnam in 2022. In this tournament, Khanh Phong won a Silver Medal in the rings while the champion was Carlos Yulo (Philippines). However, at SEA Games 32 and 33, Khanh Phong played excellently to continuously win Gold Medals in the rings event. At SEA Games 32 in Cambodia, Khanh Phong surpassed Carlos Yulo (Philippines) to hold the No. 1 position after an excellent performance.
In the Asian arena, Khanh Phong has won consecutive Silver Medals at the Asian Championships in 2023, 2024. Last year, Khanh Phong reached 6th place in the men's rings final at the 2026 Asian Championships. Up to this point, Nguyen Van Khanh Phong has only participated once in the Asian Games, which is ASIAD 19.
