Vietnam is sending a delegation of 18 members, including 10 athletes and 5 coaches, to compete across seven sports at the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, according to national sports administration disclosures. The team will be led by Nguyen Manh Hung, deputy head of the high-performance sports department at the Vietnam Sports Administration. The roster spans seven disciplines with a primary focus on swimming, beach wrestling, and wushu as the country’s strongest medal prospects.
Delegation Roster and Travel Schedule
The 18-member delegation includes ten competitors who secured slots for the international multisport event. According to travel plans outlined by sports officials, the badminton and wushu squads are scheduled to depart on October 27, while the broader delegation will begin arriving in Senegal on October 26 to finalize preparations ahead of the competition window, which runs from October 31 to November 13, 2026.
Medal Hopefuls in Swimming, Wrestling, and Wushu
Vietnamese sports authorities have identified swimming, beach wrestling, and wushu as the nation’s most viable avenues for podium finishes. In the pool, Nguyen Thuy Hien and Duong Van Hoang Quy carry expectations to extend a lineage established by prior Olympians Nguyen Thi Anh Vien and Nguyen Huy Hoang. Meanwhile, beach wrestling boasts the largest contingent of athletes, featuring Pham Van Duong, Lo Thi Hong, and Ha Ly Quy Bao. Among them, Lo Thi Hong enters the competition following gold medal performances in the under-45 kg weight class at both the 2026 junior world and Asian championships. The roster is rounded out by Nguyen Khac Le Hoang in wushu, Nguyen Truong Nhat Huy in taekwondo, Nguyen Khang Ha My in cycling, Dong Thi Huong in athletics, and Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen as the sole badminton representative.
Historical Context and Prior Youth Olympic Success
At the inaugural Games in Singapore in 2010, weightlifter Thach Kim Tuan captured gold, accompanied by a silver from taekwondo athlete Nguyen Thanh Thao and bronze medals from Nguyen Quoc Cuong and Vu Thi Trang. Four years later in Nanjing, swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien secured a gold medal alongside a silver from weightlifter Nguyen Tran Anh Tuan. In Buenos Aires in 2018, swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang and weightlifter Ngo Son Dinh both claimed gold, while Nguyen Thi Thu Trang earned a silver in women’s weightlifting.
Scale of the 2026 Dakar Games
The 2026 event marks the fourth Summer Youth Olympics and represents the first time a high-profile multisport event is organized in Africa. Events will be hosted across venues in Dakar, Diamniadio, and Saly, drawing approximately 2,700 to 3,000 athletes representing roughly 200 countries and territories, who will contest 153 events across 25 official sports.
Developmental Objectives for Vietnamese Sport
Beyond immediate podium ambitions, sports administrators have framed the Dakar appearance as an evaluation benchmark for the next generation of competitors. Performance outcomes in Senegal will serve to assess training methodologies and refine the competitive temperament of young athletes, with the long-term objective of feeding talent into future senior national teams. The multi-discipline exposure provides coaching staff with critical data on how developing prospects adapt to global competition standards.
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