SEA Games 2024: Medal, Love & Effort

On December 13, Vu Thi Trang and her younger teammate Bui Bich Phuong won the bronze medal in women’s doubles badminton for Vietnam at the 33rd Southeast Asian Games. This result was completely unexpected for many.

A year of unexpected success

In recent years, Vu Thi Trang’s performances have declined due to age. The player from Ho Chi Minh City, born in 1992, is over 30 and you can hardly expect much from her in terms of success.

But one admirable quality of Vu Thi Trang is her persistence. Although she doesn’t have many spectacular successes, she is regularly seen competing in tournaments. With the increasing hosting of international badminton tournaments in Vietnam, Vu Thi Trang’s domestic appearances have also increased.

In addition to the Vietnam Open, the country’s most important tournament, this athlete also actively participates in lower category competitions such as the Vietnam International Challenge and the Vietnam International Series. Interestingly, despite declining fitness and technical finesse, Vu Thi Trang still occasionally surprises with her emotional performances.

In late October and early November, she won two consecutive Vietnam International Challenge tournaments, both held in Bac Ninh. It’s probably been a long time since fans saw Vu Thi Trang dominate like this in an international competition.

Winning two championships in a row is still very difficult, especially since it requires extremely good physical condition. This shows how much effort and perseverance Vu Thi Trang has invested.

But their success this year didn’t end there. At 33, she remains the best tennis player in her country. Therefore, Trang was nominated for the 33rd Southeast Asian Games, where she surprisingly won a bronze medal in a discipline that was not her specialty.

The “unusual” medal

At the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, Vu Thi Trang competed in three disciplines. She was able to compete in her flagship discipline, the individual, in both the women’s team and individual competition. As expected, the Vietnamese team had no chance against the stronger badminton teams from Malaysia, Thailand and other countries.

In the women’s singles, Vu Thi Trang was also unable to create a surprise against the world-class stars. Her younger teammate Nguyen Thuy Linh, who was considered the medal favorite, lost in her first individual game and was eliminated.

The Vietnamese players then suffered a series of defeats, putting their medal hopes in jeopardy. But then hope emerged from an unexpected direction.

In the women’s doubles, Vu Thi Trang played alongside the young player Bui Bich Phuong, who also competes in the singles. This double was a real emergency solution as both players played in unfamiliar positions. Even before the Southeast Asian Games, the two sisters hardly had any time to train together, which is why expectations for this tournament were not particularly high.

But in a completely unexpected scenario, the ragtag duo of Vu Thi Trang and Bui Bich Phuong defeated number three seeds Thais Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn and Sukitta Suwachai in the round of 16 with an unstoppable, explosive style of play. Vu Thi Trang even had to play her first singles that day, but still had the strength to help her younger teammates achieve this miracle.

But that’s not all: In the quarterfinals they defeated the Filipino duo Mary Destiny Untal and Andrea Princess Hernandez and secured a place in the semifinals. Although they later lost there against the strong Indonesian duo Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari, they still won the bronze medal, as the Southeast Asian Games regulations do not provide for a third-place match.

A monument to Vietnamese badminton.

This unexpected medal adds to Vu Thi Trang’s impressive collection of awards. Often referred to as “Tien Minh’s wife,” she has proven her mettle through her achievements.

This is Vu Thi Trang’s fourth bronze medal at the Southeast Asian Games – an achievement that is not a given for Vietnamese female athletes. Previously, she was also the highest-ranked badminton player in Vietnam’s history, reaching No. 34 in the world rankings.

This achievement was later surpassed by Nguyen Thuy Linh. But that couldn’t detract from Vu Thi Trang’s brilliant career. The bronze medal at the 33rd Southeast Asian Games once again underlined her status as a true legend of Vietnamese badminton.