Vietnamese Table Tennis: No Prodigy, Only Systems – Why We Lag Behind and Which Way Forward?

At the 2026 National Table Tennis Championship, I stopped at table number 4, where a 16-year-old player had just lost in the quarter-finals. The boy bent down, picked up the ball under the referee's feet, and walked to his chair without a coach. His parents on the stands applauded encouragement, as if everything was normal. That moment made me realize: Vietnamese table tennis does not lack talent, it lacks a support system.

With 32 years of following Vietnamese sports from Japan, I have never seen a sport with such a huge gap between human potential and international performance. We have players with natural touch, but in the past five years, the highest achievement of the national team at the SEA Games is only a bronze medal in the men's team event. Meanwhile, Thailand – a country not as strong as Vietnam in table tennis in the early 2000s – now has two players in the world top 100. The Thais have built a system, we only build trust through speeches.

Looking at the medal table, it's easy to blame investment funding. But that is a lazy view. Why does Vietnamese women's volleyball – with an even smaller budget – still rise to the top of Asia? Table tennis is not lacking money compared to other high-performance sports; it lacks a proper development philosophy and the courage to be responsible for the future.

After more than two decades working with academies in Tokyo, I have witnessed how Japanese table tennis operates like a precise machine: from identifying talent in elementary school with scientific tests, to specialized training in middle school, then linking university to professional clubs. However, this journey did not start with money. It started with a simple question: what problem does this sport want to solve?

Japanese table tennis once declined in the 1990s, much like Vietnam is now, when there was no long-term plan. They changed strategy, brought in experts for youth training, and sent young players to train in China. The result? They produced Tomokazu Harimoto and Mima Ito. Meanwhile, Vietnam is still searching for a "miracle" from an individual, as if to answer the question "why don't we have a child prodigy?".

I have written too many times that: sport has no magic, only the sum of perseverance, technique, and training methodology. But in Vietnam, we have a habit of waiting for a "Hachimura" legend, a fairy tale to sell tickets.

The truth is that the current young generation of players lacks enough strength to compete at the highest level because the bottlenecks lie where no one looks: limited coaching capabilities, un-standardized technical curriculums, and a domestic competition system that is too easy, creating a false sense of security. A young player can win 10 consecutive matches at the national level without ever facing a heavy backspin opponent like at the Southeast Asian level. When they go international, they are shocked by the speed, the backhand loop, the tactical disruption. This shock repeats forever because we always train in a "learn to swim alone" style.

Youth training is a science. In Japan, to become a B-level coach, one must study biomechanics, nutrition, sports psychology, and undergo 4 years of practice. A coach is not just a former athlete with achievements, but someone who decodes the success of others. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, most coaches are former players – given priority based on quota – they are good at demonstrating technique but do not master modern coaching methods. Good coaches, often standing with wealthy amateur players, do not invest time in the national team because incomes are too low. The sport administration worries about a subsidy of 5 million dong per month for provincial coaches – a sum that cannot support a family in big cities, while private club coaches earn five times more.

At the national level, Vietnamese table tennis has had respectable coaches like Pham Quoc Thang – who trained Dinh Quang Linh – the older generation that won SEA Games medals since 2026. But that is too little. The national team only gathers for 6–8 weeks each year. Main players return to clubs to play for a living, meaning nutrition and recovery are not guaranteed.

We are at a critical crossroads. When the Japanese table tennis wave grew, Vietnamese in Tokyo established clubs. But inside the HCMC Table Tennis Federation facility, courts are still makeshift, tables and balls are old, mats are patched... If we truly want to reach new heights, look at how Korea uses university championships to select players who go through three years of international competition before age 20. We can adapt that with only 10% of their budget.

Some argue that table tennis lacks media appeal and is hard to attract sponsors, so we accept the status quo. That is a cowardly justification. Table tennis is suitable for the Vietnamese body type – quick and agile. In Southeast Asia, we can fully compete if we have a 10-year plan, sending 20 promising 14-year-olds to international training centers in cooperation.

There is a story any sports journalist cannot forget: at the 2026 SEA Games in the Philippines, the Vietnamese women's table tennis team defeated Thailand to win bronze. The girls cried in the locker room because for six months they had only 8 million dong in bonuses. They still continued, based on their love of the game. But love cannot replace professionalism. Immediately after, women's table tennis sank into obscurity for the next 4 years.

So what is the way forward? The answer lies in a "deep attack" strategy: not spreading the budget thinly over too many subjects, but selecting a group of 15–17-year-old talents with the best physique and speed, building personalized training plans, inviting international-standard coaches for guest lectures, and sending them to at least 15 international tournaments every year. To do that, we must break down local separatism and put national interest first.

A youth team is not a team for point-scoring competitions; it is a laboratory for success. I repeat this sentence in my reports in Tokyo. Even countries with young sports systems like Indonesia hire Chinese domestic coaches to build systems, because they understand that change must start with mindset.

I spent 6 months analyzing match records of 200 young Southeast Asian players and discovered a paradox: Vietnam has better fundamental technique than Thailand at age 14, but by age 20 they are completely left behind. The reason: at 15, Thailand promotes them to the national team for long-term training; at 17 they go to international tournaments constantly; by 20 they have 15 years of experience playing high-level opponents. Meanwhile, our players remain stuck in domestic junior tournaments and only enter the international scene at age 21.

The domestic competition system also does not create pressure for young players to adapt. Each year, the number of international tournaments a team player attends can be counted on one hand. I bet many players have never faced the serve of a lower-tier Chinese player. How can they imagine a 120km/h loop from a top-50 player?

Meanwhile, the world gap is closing by learning from China's table tennis system. In Japan, they recruit Chinese coaches and build a Japanese flexible approach. In Korea, they keep their own fast style. Vietnam stands at a crossroads and chooses nothing.

Once again, I emphasize that the problem is not funding as people often say. Even in the most difficult provinces, if you do the right club linked with school model, you can still spot talent. We have seen that model succeed in shuttlecock and volleyball. Table tennis should follow behind but can walk firmly.

I have witnessed the "Hachimura story" in Japan: a boy born into a pro scene but nurtured by three different coaches at the same time. Managers did not sit waiting for a prodigy; they built a machine that produces winners. They did that by taking Hachimura... to global stardom.

We in Vietnam can foster a table tennis Hachimura not by internationalizing just one person, but by creating an environment where the best naturally shine. Don't ask what young players lack; ask where each club, each training center, is misallocating resources.

At a summer sports conference last year, a table tennis federation official told me: "We don't have weapons, only belief." I replied: "Your weapon is the system. If the system doesn't exist, belief is just a euphemism for powerlessness."

This problem is not unique to table tennis, but table tennis best exposes the cracks in our high-performance sports architecture. When a sport doesn't win medals, we blame "physique, standard". But looking at how Thailand invests, they started by rewriting the youth training curriculum eight years ago. They don't have many gold medals but have created a process that constantly produces young players, while Vietnam still waits forever for a "talent" to make a story.

We need to definitively answer the question: Is Vietnamese table tennis aiming for SEA Games or for Asia? If aiming for SEA Games, a few minor improvements may be enough. If aiming for Asia, it's a radical change. Everything from coach quality, nutrition, and treatment of athletes must change.

Journalist Duong Thanh, after 30 years of sports reporting, does not believe in lucky medals. I believe in an iron philosophy: system determines performance.

I end with a story full of meaning: At the Da Nang table tennis club, there is a 12-year-old boy, son of a poor laborer, who practices two hours every day after helping his father sell porridge. He has no proper coach. A month ago, he beat a well-trained player from the city sports center. But the boy left the sport because his family could not pay the tuition. Meanwhile, in other countries, they never let a talent leave for financial reasons, because there are support policies.

We lose too many talents to an indifferent system. If we continue, even if we have 100 extraordinary talents, we will still be poor in medals.

Let's start by reviewing the budget, but above all, review the commitment of those in charge. Ask why there is no province table tennis association that holds youth tournaments three times a year. Ask why the national team does not have a long-term training trip to Japan or South Korea?

Don't say "we don't have the conditions," because other Southeast Asian countries have shown they have fewer conditions but more aspiration. The era of dependence is over. A new generation needs new leadership, a new philosophy.

Vietnamese table tennis must save itself before it is too late.

(Above is an analysis article by expert Duong Thanh, offering a comprehensive sports perspective.)