Gold hunters at Sepak Takraw tournaments

Gold Medal after 16 years Vietnam missed the appointment

At the Final Round of the 2022 Sepak Takraw World Championship, the Vietnamese women's Sepak Takraw team won convincingly against the Thai team to win the World Gold Medal in this event. Since the victory in 2006, this is the first time in 16 years that the Vietnamese women's Sepak Takraw team has defeated Thailand to bring home the overall Gold Medal.

Over the years, the Thai team has always been considered the world's number 1 power in sepak takraw. This is also the country that gave birth to the doubles, triples and quadruples events of this sport. Therefore, they have firmly promoted their strengths through international tournaments. Even at the 31st Sea Games, Vietnam sadly missed out on the Gold Medal when they were defeated by Thailand.

Sepak Takraw athlete Nguyen Thi My (born in 1998, Dien Chau district) is considered an outstanding young player who has won many Gold Medals at national and world Sepak Takraw tournaments. Photo: NVCC

Entering the world tournament, right on their home field, Thailand used the sepak takraw team that defeated Vietnam at the recent 31st Sea Games with the confidence of certain victory. However, beyond all expectations, the Vietnamese women's sepak takraw team showed excellent performance and defeated Thailand 2-0 (first half score 21-15 and second half score 23-21) to step up to the podium to receive the Gold Medal in a convincing manner. This is an important premise to open a new stage of Vietnamese sepak takraw in the international arena.

The moment the Vietnamese women's sepak takraw team officially defeated the Thai team with a score of 21-15 and 23-21 to win the Gold Medal at the 2022 World Championship. Photo: NVCC

Standing out among the four official athletes participating in this tournament is a young and outstanding player from Nghe An, Nguyen Thi My, a native of Dien Tan commune, Dien Chau district. This female athlete born in 1998 has been a member of the Vietnam national sepak takraw team for 8 years and has brought many high achievements to the country's sports.

Nguyen Thi My (second from left, first row) with the Vietnamese women's sepak takraw team and the Coaching Board at the 2022 Sepak Takraw World Championship. Photo: NVCC

Overcoming difficulties to "thicken" the golden board of achievements

Nguyen Thi My shared that Sepak Takraw has a special fate with her as it is a passion and a career that has been with her since she was a 12-year-old girl until now. Accordingly, My grew up in a family that is very passionate about sports, especially soccer. Therefore, even though she is a girl, My has been able to play soccer after school since she was little.

In the 6th grade, My was selected by the school to join the school's soccer team to participate in the Phu Dong Sports Festival at the provincial level. Through her efforts to play soccer with full strength in this competition, Nguyen Thi My caught the eye of Coach Ho Thi Minh Thuan of the Nghe An Sports Training and Competition Center.

Coach Ho Thi Minh Thuan (third from left) and Head Coach Hoang Huu Nghia (in white shirt) are the ones who discovered Nguyen Thi My's talent and guided her to achieve high achievements in sepak takraw. Photo: NVCC

Through observation, the coach realized that My had good reflexes with the ball. Her skillful feet always controlled the round ball, especially the passes in the air, which promised to bring her many advantages in sepak takraw. Therefore, right after the tournament ended, the coach met, talked directly and wanted to attract her to join the provincial women's sepak takraw team.

Under the guidance of the coaching staff, after only 2 years of training at the center, My has performed excellently and brought home many important awards for her province. In 2013, young talent Nguyen Thi My made her first mark when she and her teammates won 2 Gold Medals at the National Youth Sepak Takraw Championship and the National Sepak Takraw Championship.

In early December, the Nghe An Sepak Takraw team won the second prize at the national level with a high achievement. Photo: NVCC

In the following years, Nguyen Thi My brought home many Gold and Silver Medals to enrich the achievements of Nghe An sports tradition. These include the Gold Medal at the 2016 Asian Beach Games, the Silver Medal at the 2018 Asian Games, the Silver Medal at the 2019 Sea Games, the Silver Medal at the 2019 World Games...

In particular, in early December, Nguyen Thi My returned to Nghe An to join her teammates to represent her home province at the 9th National Sports Festival in 2022. Here, the women's sepak takraw team with the participation of Nguyen Thi My won two prestigious Gold Medals in the two events of Team 3 and Team 4. This victory contributed to helping the Nghe An sepak takraw team excellently win the Second Prize overall.

A small corner contains Medals, Certificates of Merit, and Certificates of Merit that female Sepak Takraw athlete Nguyen Thi My has achieved in nearly 9 years of professional competition. Photo: Thanh Quynh

Entering the prime of her career, Nguyen Thi My not only competed but also became an excellent student at Bac Ninh University of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sports Training. For My, that was an important premise for her to realize her dream of becoming a coach after she was no longer a competitive athlete.

Nguyen Thi My confided: “Leaving home at the age of 12 to go to Vinh city to train at the provincial Sports Training and Competition Center, I cried a lot because I missed home. However, that lack of affection was filled by the love and care from the coaching staff, especially coach Ho Thi Minh Thuan, who directly guided me in the matches. Together with the companionship of Head Coach Hoang Huu Nghia, they became the second father and mother in my life. Those examples gave me the confidence to compete with all my heart for the flag. And they also gave me the motivation to strive to become a professional coach, to live my life for the sport of sepak takraw.”./.