"Little Miss"... undefeated

(Baonghean) - During the table tennis matches of the Provincial Phu Dong Sports Festival, the gymnasium of Dang Thai Mai Secondary School (Vinh City) was always packed with people cheering. Among them, all eyes were on Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy, a pretty and cute girl with powerful and intelligent shots, who was the champion in both the girls' singles and girls' doubles categories for elementary school students…

More than a week has passed since the tournament ended, but when we met Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy again, she was still overwhelmed with joy. For over a month, she participated in the Phu Dong Sports Festival, from the qualifying rounds at her school, the city, then the Nam Dan, Hung Nguyen, Thanh Chuong, Nghi Loc, and Vinh City clusters, and finally the provincial finals. For the first time, Thuy felt like she was participating in a real competition. Moreover, each match was a tense battle, as all of Thuy's opponents were older and stronger than her. However, no one could have imagined that Thuy, despite her small stature and lack of competition experience, could perform so brilliantly, remaining undefeated in all her matches…

Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy (center) and other athletes at the 16th Phu Dong Sports Festival of Nghe An province.

Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy is only in third grade at Le Loi Primary School and has only been playing table tennis for about a year. When her parents decided to enroll her in this sport, they didn't have high expectations. It was simply because her mother read in the newspaper that "playing table tennis can prevent nearsightedness and improve agility and flexibility." Therefore, not only Thuy but also her older sister, Nguyen Thi Ha Trang, started playing table tennis very early and even won second place at the Phu Dong Sports Festival four years ago. As for Thuy, on her first day at the city's sports center, she looked quite pathetic standing at the table. Yet, her teacher was surprised when he asked her to practice juggling the ball. The exercise only required juggling 15-20 balls to qualify for enrollment. But Thuy managed to juggle 36 balls without dropping a single one on her first try.

Later, observing Thuy's training process, her coach, Mr. Minh, said: "Thuy has a special talent for table tennis, especially in ball-catching technique, judgment, and many clever and tricky passes." Therefore, it's easy to understand why Thuy, despite starting later than many other members of the class and being the smallest and lightest, quickly caught up with and surpassed her older classmates, becoming the coach's "favorite student." Her parents, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha and Mr. Nguyen The Dung, were very supportive of their daughter's passion for table tennis. Every week, Mr. Dung regularly brought his daughter to the center for training three times. On days when Ms. Trang wasn't busy with extra classes, the whole family would go to the court and participate in training together. They even bought a table tennis table at home for the three of them to play together. On their most intense sessions, they would play for up to 10 sets, and Mr. Dung was always the one who "lost" because he was weaker physically. My mother, on the other hand, is happy because ever since I started exercising, I've become "much more confident and eat better, and I don't watch TV as often as before."

Her family were also her biggest supporters throughout the competition. This was Thuy's first official tournament as an individual, and it was the most important tournament for the Education sector, so needless to say, her family was very worried. Their worries intensified when they learned that Thuy was the youngest participant. However, unlike her parents' concerns, Thuy played very comfortably, winning almost every match decisively. She only lost one set in her match against a 4th-grade athlete from Nam Dan district due to an unexpected fall, but she later won convincingly with a score of 4-1. She also remembers the women's singles final; what she thought would be the toughest match turned out to be the easiest because her opponent only used one type of shot, a "double-attack" style, and she easily won. In the women's singles event, Thuy partnered with Vo Linh Na, a classmate and fellow student at the training center, so the two worked very well together. Therefore, it's no surprise that both of them successively passed the rounds at the school, city, and regional levels, and then excellently won first prize in the entire province.

Not only is Thuy good at sports, but she is also an outstanding student, proudly boasting that she is "on par with the class president." In class, Thuy also holds the position of class vice-president in charge of academics, a model student respected by her classmates. Speaking about her youngest daughter, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha stated: "Let her study, let her pursue her passions naturally, and I will not object if she truly wants to continue..."

Thúy's journey into table tennis, into sports, and her eventual championship title all stemmed from a very simple perspective!

My Ha