Viet Nam wins Olympic spot to compete in badminton in Paris
VGP – Badminton player Le Duc Phat has qualified for the Paris Olympics, being the 10th athlete of Viet Nam at the global sporting festival.
Le Duc Phat will make his Olympic debut this summer as he is the next Vietnamese representative in badminton.
The Badminton World Federation on April 30 announced the Race to Paris list in which Phat stood at No 34 among 38 male players who will play at the 33rd Olympics this July.
This will be the first time that Phat will compete in an Olympics.
"I am really happy to announce that I am qualified for Olympics," he said.
"My journey to get the place is quite tough, but I am proud to have chance to compete in Paris.
"More than three years of hard practicing and competing for the Olympic dream is like a movie for me. It was truly difficult and somewhat unrealistic. I was out of the top 300 when I kicked off the campaign. I suffered injuries that made me think about quitting for no less than 100 times.
"However, as a solder, I was not allowed me to give up. I tried harder to achieve the dream that I have been pursuing all along."
During these years, Phat took part in 22 competitions. He won two, finished at the second and third places twice each. The results were quite important to push Phat up in the world.
"This is not only my effort personally but also of the Việt Nam Badminton Federation, District 2 and District 7 Sports Centres, my family, sponsors, media, and fans across the country who have encouraged and supported me," said Phat.
"I will practice and take part in some international tournaments in the next few weeks to improve my ability so that I would have best performance for the Olympics.
"I also hope that my story will inspire sport lovers especially badminton trainers and children that it's never too late to dream; fight hard and never give up before the dream comes true."
Prior to Phat, Viet Nam has had nine Paris Olympians. They are cyclist Nguyen Thi That, swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang, shooters Trinh Thu Vinh and Le Thi Mong Tuyen, badminton player Nguyen Thuy Linh, boxer Vo Thi Kim Anh, weightlifter Trinh Van Vinh, canoeist Nguyen Thi Huong and rower Pham Thi Hue.
Viet Nam plans to have from 12 to 15 athletes to compete in the July 26-August 11 Olympics in France. Sport officials also expect to earn medal from this huge competition.
Viet Nam's best Olympic result was one gold and one silver by marksman Hoang Xuan Vinh at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil./.
