Whose chance is it?
Vietnamese badminton has developed a professional plan for 2025. This year, we set a focus on competing to achieve results in the most important arena, the 33rd SEA Games. The question has been raised: which person is capable enough to win the highest medal at the 33rd SEA Games held in Thailand? The answer shared by experts is that we have the people but Vietnamese players are not really outstanding enough to defeat their opponents.
Vietnamese badminton has two players Nguyen Thuy Linh and Le Duc Phat who have won tickets and officially competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics (France). Currently, they are the two most prominent faces and have the best expertise in the men's and women's categories of Vietnamese badminton.
However, none of them have won an individual medal at the SEA Games. The difficult thing for us is that Southeast Asia is home to many of the world's top badminton players, so Vietnamese athletes must work hard to achieve results.
The best achievement (in terms of singles) that Vietnamese badminton has achieved at the SEA Games so far is still the Bronze Medal for men's and women's singles.
We have never had a player reach the final of any badminton event at the SEA Games. Therefore, the fact that a Vietnamese player reached the final of an event of this sport at the 33rd SEA Games is already a success.
"We are still preparing the most carefully to focus on the Vietnamese players' competition," said Mr. Khoa Trung Kien, head of the badminton department (Department of Physical Education and Sports).
Winning is still very difficult
Nguyen Thuy Linh is the best ranked Vietnamese badminton player in the world rankings (she is ranked 33rd in women's singles). However, Thuy Linh has never won a Bronze Medal for her individual achievements in the SEA Games so far. The best result Thuy Linh has achieved is a Bronze Medal in the women's team event at the 31st SEA Games (May 2022).
At the 32nd SEA Games held in Cambodia, Vietnamese badminton was determined to win the highest medal but we did not get the expected results. In that arena, Le Duc Phat and Nguyen Thuy Linh had to stop at their individual events.
SEA Games 33-2025, the host Thailand Organizing Committee will organize 7 sets of badminton medals (men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, mixed doubles, men's team, women's team). In the mission report, the Vietnam Badminton Team set a goal of striving for medals at the 33rd SEA Games.
At the 7th Congress of the Vietnam Badminton Federation (September 2024), President Le Dang Xu affirmed: “Investing in young talents for Vietnamese badminton is the focus of the Federation because above all, we still aim to achieve high results in the SEA Games arena. Vietnamese badminton is always waiting for a prestigious Gold Medal”.
