Nghe An female athlete comes to sepak takraw from football

Impressive achievements

Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh was born in 2000 in a farming family in Dien Hoa commune (Dien Chau). Since childhood, Quynh loved playing sports and often sneaked out of her parents' house at noon to play soccer and shuttlecock with boys in the neighborhood.

In 2014, while in 8th grade, Quynh was selected to participate in the Phu Dong Sports Festival at district and provincial levels in women's soccer and, together with her teammates, won the Gold Medal for Dien Chau district.

Playing prominently in the Dien Chau District Secondary School girls' soccer team at the Phu Dong Sports Festival that year, Quynh quickly caught the eye of the Sepak Takraw coaches of the Sports Training Center (now the Sports Training and Competition Center) of Nghe An Province. When she learned that Quynh had the potential to play many other sports, Sepak Takraw coach Ho Thi Minh Thuan came to her house and convinced Quynh and her family to let her participate in Sepak Takraw.

“At that time, sepak takraw was like nothing to me because in my hometown I only knew about football and had never heard of sepak takraw. But with the encouragement of my family, friends and teachers, I decided to go to Vinh city and my sister took me there to join the team to practice,” Ngoc Quynh recounted.

Like many other friends, at first I was very confused because sepak takraw is a very difficult sport to play and I didn’t know how to play. But the teachers encouraged me that in Nghe An, any girl who knows how to play soccer can almost adapt quickly to sepak takraw,” Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh shared.

Coach Ho Thi Minh Thuan - the person who discovered and selected Quynh said: "At that time, Quynh was only 14 years old but she was already over 1m60 tall, had long legs, and a slim body, very suitable for sepak takraw. When doing some quick tests, Ngoc Quynh showed good improvisation and agility... From there, we decided to recruit her to the province's sepak takraw team to continue training."

After a few months of training, Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh was given the opportunity by her coaches to compete in the first national youth tournament in Dong Nai province in 2014. Although she only played a reserve role for her experienced seniors, through this tournament, Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh observed and learned many things.

Since then, along with veteran athletes of the Nghe An Sepak Takraw team such as Nguyen Thi Hoa, Nguyen Thi Quyen,Nguyen Thi My, Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh has participated in many national championships and won the Gold Medal every year. In the 3rd and 4th teams, Ngoc Quynh plays in the left attack position and is often the last position to score points. Quynh's strongest point is her high jump to kick the ball over the net and over the opponent's blocker.

Notably, at the 2018 and 2022 National Sports Festivals, the Nghe An Sepak Takraw team achieved impressive results. In particular, at the 2022 National Sports Festival, the team excellently achieved the target set by the Nghe An sports delegation of 2 Gold Medals, ranking second in the Sepak Takraw team after the Hanoi team.

Talking about this tournament, Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh said: “With the set target, both teachers and athletes were under pressure because the domestic sepak takraw teams were very strong such as: Hanoi, People's Police, Dong Thap, Soc Trang... Therefore, the whole team had to go through a stressful training period, with many field trips. The teachers trusted me to play in 2 events: team 4 and team doubles.

The first match was against a strong team, the People's Public Security, we were quite worried because in recent years, Nghe An has always lost to the People's Public Security in national championships. But thanks to the spirit of solidarity, the whole team won absolutely, so I felt happy and joyful. This was also the first time I was able to participate in the starting lineup of the 4th team and won against strong teams, so it can be considered the most memorable memory during the training and competition process in the past years in the Nghe An Sepak Takraw team."

Efforts in the National Team

Also key athletes of the Nghe An Sepak Takraw team have competed excellently in domestic tournaments, but while Nguyen Thi My - who is 2 years older than My, has more than 8 years of experience "eating the national team's rice", it was not until early 2023 that Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh was first called up to the national team.

“For me personally, being called up to the national team is not too late because it is the result of my efforts to achieve results for the Nghe An Sepak Takraw team. This is truly a new experience for me when I get to challenge myself with a disciplined training journey with more difficult exercises,” Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh shared.

In a new environment, being exposed to a team of highly qualified coaches and training with experienced veteran athletes helped Ngoc Quynh learn a lot, from improving her physical strength and technique to improving her competitive mentality. Ngoc Quynh herself also strives every day to meet the professional requirements set forth by the coaching staff. With a desire to learn and a spirit of diligent training, Ngoc Quynh has made rapid progress in her professional skills.

After training hard to prove herself, last June, Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh was selected by the coaching board of the Vietnamese Sepak Takraw team to compete in the Asian Sepak Takraw Championship in Hangzhou (China) taking place from June 20-23.

At this tournament, along with athletes Tran Thi Ngoc Yen, Nguyen Thi My, Tran Thi Hong Nhung, Vu Thi Van Anh, Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh competed in both the 3-woman and 4-woman categories. Competing in 4/6 matches of the Vietnamese women's team in both categories, Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh and her teammates excellently won 2 Gold Medals after defeating opposing teams such as: Taiwan, Philippines, China...

“Because it was my first time competing internationally, I was a bit nervous, but the pride in my country and my own efforts made me determined to compete well. In addition, I also made many friends from other countries. The Asian Championship was a very favorable start for me and the entire national team," Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh confided.

Ngoc Quynh also said that her upcoming goal is to continue to be part of the national team participating in the world sepak takraw championship held in Thailand in July. In addition, there is also the national sepak takraw championship held in Nghe An province in October. "These are the two most important tournaments of the year, so I will try to concentrate to achieve the best results for Vietnamese sepak takraw and Nghe An sepak takraw," Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh shared.