Tien Minh's last ticket to the Olympics

The tennis player born in 1983 became the first Vietnamese athlete to participate in three consecutive Olympics.

“According to the Badminton World Federation’s scoring system for selecting athletes for the 2016 Olympics, I am currently ranked 16th while they have selected more than 30 people. This means I am sure to have a ticket to Brazil next August,” Tien Minh told VnExpress.

Tomorrow, May 5, the Badminton World Federation will announce the list of athletes qualified for the 2016 Olympics. This is the third consecutive time Tien Minh has participated in the Olympics, something no Vietnamese athlete has done before.

“This will be the last Olympics of my career, so winning a ticket has a very different feeling than the previous two times. I hope I will have a quality “team” to practice with before going to Brazil to compete,” Tien Minh added.

Tien Minh plans to retire after the 2016 Olympics.

Tien Minh was not in good health when he was young, so his parents let him practice badminton to improve his health. At the age of 10, in a tournament, he lost a game to his opponent 0-15, so he was angry and decided to practice seriously. Exactly one year later, when he played again, he beat his old opponent 15-0 and gradually entered the career of a professional athlete. Tien Minh is a living monument of Vietnamese badminton, once entering the top 10 in the world.

“I had to practice physical training and badminton a lot. There were nights when I woke up suddenly because I realized something was not satisfactory, so I practiced right away. I took a break on the 30th of Tet, and on the 2nd I went back to practicing. No one forced me to practice, I tortured myself like that. Anyone who plays badminton will know that if I stop practicing for a few days, I will lose feeling, and it will be very difficult to get it back. I also ate very carefully, and was afraid of getting injured, losing my career when going out… Many people said I tortured myself, that I was crazy. There were times when I really thought I was crazy,” Tien Minh said about his difficult journey to pursue badminton.

Unlike other famous competitors like Lin Dan or Lee Chong Wei... who often have a whole team accompanying them to take care of everything from food to filming and analyzing their opponents, Tien Minh often competes alone due to limited funds.

He sadly said: “When I go to play international matches, I am always alone. Many times when I lose a match, I carry my suitcase to the airport alone, feeling so sad that I want to cry. Many people ask me why I don’t hire a coach or a team? Where does the money come from? Everyone knows that in Vietnam, besides male soccer players, athletes in other sports have low incomes. My friends joke that if I were born abroad and reached the top 10 in the world, I would be very rich."

Vietnam has 17 tickets to the 2016 Olympics, from badminton (Tien Minh), gymnastics (Pham Phuoc Hung and Phan Thi Ha Thanh), fencing (Vu Thanh An, Nguyen Thi Le Dung, Nguyen Thi Nhu Hoa), swimming (Nguyen Thi Anh Vien), wrestling (Vu Thi Hang, Nguyen Thi Lua), athletics (Nguyen Thanh Ngung), shooting (Tran Quoc Cuong, Hoang Xuan Vinh), three tickets for men's weightlifting, one ticket for women's weightlifting and one ticket for women's rowing.

According to VNE