Nghe An female sepak takraw athlete and historic gold medals
(Baonghean.vn) - After 9 years in the national team, Nguyen Thi My has gradually become a key player of the Vietnamese women's sepak takraw team, and together with her teammates, has made achievements in international tournaments.
The opportunity to play Sepak Takraw from football
Born in 1998 in a farming family in Dien Tan commune, Dien Chau district, Nguyen Thi My inherited her passion for football from her father, Nguyen Van Luat, since childhood. Not only did she "burn" herself out with her father in exciting football matches on TV, but since her elementary school years, every afternoon after school, My and her male friends in the village went to play football. Although she was small compared to her friends, on the football field, My was very enthusiastic, and liked to play as a striker to score goals.
And football was also the opportunity for Nguyen Thi My to come to Sepak Takraw. At the end of 2009, while studying in grade 6 at Dien Tan Secondary School, My was selected to join the school's female football team to participate in the Phu Dong District Sports Festival. At this time, coach Ho Thi Minh Thuan of Nghe An Sports Training and Coaching Center (now Nghe An Sports Training and Competition Center) went to recruit soldiers. And with her agility and skillful feet on the football field, My quickly caught the eye of this female coach.
After the Phu Dong Sports Festival that year, coach Ho Thi Minh Thuan went to Nguyen Thi My's house to convince her parents to let their daughter practice sepak takraw in Vinh city. With a passion for sports, My's parents quickly agreed. In February 2010, after the Lunar New Year, My packed her bags and went to Vinh city to join the sepak takraw team of Nghe An Sports Training Center.
After nearly 2 years of training, in 2012, My was allowed by the coaching staff to compete in the National Youth Sepak Takraw Championship and the National Sepak Takraw Club Championship in the 2-person, 3-person and 4-person team categories. Although she also won a number of medals, it was not until 2013 that she became the main "double" in the Nghe An youth Sepak Takraw team. At the 2013 National Youth Sepak Takraw Championship, Nguyen Thi My and her teammates won the Gold Medal in Team 3.
Also in 2013, Nguyen Thi My and the Nghe An Sepak Takraw team won the Gold Medal at the National Sepak Takraw Championship - the highest level of Sepak Takraw in Vietnam. At the age of 15, Nguyen Thi My was considered by the Nghe An Sepak Takraw coaching board as the "locomotive" of the next generation of famous seniors such as Nguyen Thi Quyen, Nguyen Thi Hoa, and Nguyen Thi Mo.
And the female athlete from Dien Chau has shown her ability and courage when competing excellently in domestic tournaments, thanks to which from 2014 until now, every year the Nghe An Sepak Takraw team has won Gold Medals at the National Sports Festival, National Sepak Takraw Championship, National Sepak Takraw Club Championship and National Youth Sepak Takraw Championship, along with local tournaments.
Historic Gold Medals
Early showing her talent and competing excellently in domestic competitions, in 2014, Nguyen Thi My was recruited by her teacher.Hoang Huu Nghia- Coach of the National women's sepak takraw team, and also head of the sepak takraw department of Nghe An Sports Training and Coaching Center, summoned to the national youth sepak takraw team, then the national sepak takraw team.
Not wanting to be called “thanks to her fellow countrymen”, Nguyen Thi My has worked very hard to practice and gradually asserted her important position on the team in the 3rd and 4th team events. She was commented by the coaches to possess many qualities such as technique, reflexes, tactical vision... and is one of the indispensable athletes in the 4th and 3rd team events of Vietnam Sepak Takraw. In particular, she and her teammates in the team won historic Gold Medals.
First, at the 2016 Asian Beach Games (ABG), at the age of 18, Nguyen Thi My and her senior players Nguyen Thai Linh, Tran Thi Hong Nhung, and Do Thi Nguyen helped Vietnam's sepak takraw team win the first Gold Medal in this tournament after an excellent 2-0 victory over Myanmar in the 3rd team event.
At the 2022 Sepak Takraw World Championship held in Bangkok at the end of July 2022, Nguyen Thi My and her teammates Nguyen Thi Yen, Tran Thi Ngoc Yen, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Huyen, Tran Thi Thu Hoai, and Nguyen Thi Thu Trang excellently defeated their arch-rival, and also the host team Thailand, in the final match of the 4th team event with a score of 2-0. This is a historic championship for Vietnamese women's sepak takraw because in this event, the Thai women's sepak takraw team is very strong and Vietnam's women's sepak takraw has not been able to defeat its opponent for the past 16 years.
A year later, Nguyen Thi My and her teammates Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh, Nguyen Thi Yen, Tran Thi Hong Nhung, Tran Thi Ngoc Yen, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Huyen successfully defended the World Championship title in the 4-woman team category. This was also the first time that Vietnamese women's sepak takraw won the world championship two times in a row.
Notably, at the recent 2023 ASIAD, in her first time holding the responsibility of captaining the team in an international tournament, Nguyen Thi My and athletes Tran Thi Ngoc Yen, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Huyen, Nguyen Thi Yen, Le Thi Tu Trinh and Tran Thi Hong Nhung defeated the Indonesian team in the final match of the 4th team event to win the historic Gold Medal.
After 17 years, the Vietnamese women's sepak takraw team has won a Gold Medal at an ASIAD, since the generation of Luu Thi Thanh, Hai Thao... reached the pinnacle of glory at ASIAD 2006. But this championship was even more resounding when the Vietnamese women's team won all 5 matches of the tournament.
Sharing about this tournament, Nguyen Thi My said: “At the 32nd SEA Games in May in Cambodia, we lost to Thailand in the 4-person women's team final. At that time, the whole team was very sad because not having a Gold Medal meant not being successful. Therefore, after the SEA Games, we worked hard to practice continuously. Every day, in addition to physical exercises, the team also practiced with the shuttlecock for at least 10 hours to improve the feeling of the shuttlecock as well as perfecting our mentality. Thanks to that, the team successfully defended the world championship and won the Gold Medal at the recent ASIAD.”
In addition to the above historic Gold Medals, Nguyen Thi My and her teammates in the Vietnamese team also won the Gold Medal at the 2023 Asian Sepak Takraw Championship, the Silver Medal at the SEA Games in 2019, 2022, 2023, the Silver Medal at the 2018 ASIAD, the Silver Medal at the 2019 World Championship...
I will continue to do my best to work with my teammates to achieve the best results at the upcoming National Sepak Takraw Championship in 2023 as well as domestic tournaments and the Asian Championship and World Championship in 2024. After finishing my competitive career, I hope to become a Sepak Takraw coach like Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuan and Ms. Nguyen Thi Quyen, to teach skills and experience to young athletes to affirm the position of Nghe An Sepak Takraw.