The failed overthrow and the biggest regret of the career In the history of participating in the SEA Games, the Vietnamese women's volleyball team has never won against Thailand. "The unlucky girls" or "the second place king" are always mentioned every time the Vietnamese women's volleyball team meets the number 1 opponent in the region in the final. Since 2001, the Vietnamese women's team has faced Thailand in the volleyball final a total of 11 times and most of them have suffered quick defeats of 0-3.
Thanh Thuy and her teammates entered the SEA Games final with the dream of overthrowing the Thais.
Winning a set against Thailand is a great thing for many generations of Vietnamese women's volleyball, and we have done this 3 times in the SEA Games gold medal matches. That said, what Thanh Thuy and her teammates showed in the final match of the 32nd SEA Games was an effort beyond the limit. Perhaps even the Thais never thought of a scenario where a set would last until the score was over 30 when playing against Vietnam. Losing 1-3 (17-25, 25-21, 30-32 and 21-25) to Thailand, Vietnamese women's volleyball has never been so regretful. The gap in class between a world-class team and a team that has never won a SEA Games gold medal has been significantly narrowed, and this is a great motivation for Vietnamese women's volleyball in the dream of catching up with Thailand in the future.
Despite losing, the Vietnamese women's team still made Thailand sweat.
Recalling the emotional final match, Thanh Thuy shared: "My teammates and I all set the goal of winning the first SEA Games gold medal for Vietnamese women's volleyball, but we failed. Regretfully, everyone tried their best. I personally felt that I lacked courage in many situations. I blame myself for cutting 1 point, maybe everything would have been different..." . "4T" brand Like every tournament of the Vietnamese women's volleyball team, Thanh Thuy is always the player who scores the most points. The influence of the 1997-born main striker is indisputable. Witnessing his student's explosive performance at the SEA Games, coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet also had to exclaim: "She has confidence, a very good competitive spirit, and at many times pulled the whole team up. Thanh Thuy played at more than 100% of her form, in many situations she received a step and then fell, then stood up and jumped to score points".
Thanh Thuy exploded in the semi-final match against Indonesia
Before the SEA Games, Thanh Thuy made a great contribution to helping the Vietnamese women's volleyball team make an incredible comeback against Diamond Food (Thailand) in the final match of the 2023 Asian Club Championship, thereby winning the championship for the first time after 21 years of participating in the continental tournament. The 1m93 tall "dinosaur" scored 30 points, including 28 points from attacks. To improve herself day by day and become a fearsome hitter for any blocker, Thanh Thuy had to sacrifice her youth.
Vietnam women's volleyball team owns a "rare" spiker
Even now, Thanh Thuy still has to brace herself when simultaneously playing for 3 teams: PFU BlueCats (Japan), her home team VTV Binh Dien Long An and the Vietnam women's volleyball team (captain). Rushed flights, being away from home, injuries, adapting to a new environment, playing against her strengths... are the difficulties that Thanh Thuy has to face every day. But no matter how difficult it is, the "dinosaur" of the Vietnam women's volleyball team has overcome it, as an affirmation of its unmistakable 4T brand. Four times abroad and the "biggest" contract in history, Tran Thanh Thuy has become the Vietnamese volleyball player to play for the most foreign teams in history, with 4 times abroad playing for Bangkok Glass VC (Thailand), Attack Line (Taiwan - China), Denso Airybees and PFU BlueCats (Japan). Thanh Thuy's current transfer value is up to 250,000 USD/year (more than 5 billion VND). This is a record contract and a dream for Vietnamese volleyball players.
Thanh Thuy has been abroad 4 times and is currently the Vietnamese volleyball athlete with the highest salary in history.
But receiving a high salary is also a big pressure for Thanh Thuy. The captain of the Vietnamese women's volleyball team said she had to change positions, playing as a middle blocker instead of a main blocker in a foreign environment. Each match is a challenge and helps Thanh Thuy become stronger and more confident. Although playing for a team that is not a "big guy" of the Japanese National Championship, the marks of the number 1 Vietnamese hitter still receive much admiration. 4T was once in the top 5 players with the best finishing efficiency in the tournament (46%), and more impressively, she was also one of the best defensive players in the tournament in the land of the rising sun. Once suspected of cheating on her age, Thanh Thuy was born in 1997 in a family originally from Ha Nam who came to Binh Duong to start a business. Her family has nothing to do with sports and has nothing special about her body. Many people were surprised when Thuy's mother was only 1.58m tall. Thuy's diet and lifestyle as a child were also very normal, even inferior to many of her peers because her family had many difficulties.
The "huge" height of 1m93 and the jumping ability help Thanh Thuy possess powerful and dangerous serves.
However, strangely, Thanh Thuy still grew up very quickly. At only 13 years old and in 7th grade, Thuy was already 1.78m tall, taller than most of the main attackers of the Vietnamese volleyball team at that time. Her case was so strange that when meeting Thuy in a physical education class at school, the coaches of Binh Dien Long An Club were surprised and did not believe her, simply because "there is no way a 13-year-old can be 1.78m tall". After finding enough sources and using professional methods to verify that Thuy was born in 1997, the scouts realized that they were facing a unique "rough diamond". More impressively, in addition to her height of 1.78m, Thuy also has ideal arm span, reach, and on-the-spot jumping ability for Vietnamese volleyball.
Thanh Thuy has had ideal measurements since she was 13 years old.
For many years now, Thuy "co" has been a mainstay in VTV Binh Dien Long An Club, foreign teams and the Vietnamese national team. Thanh Thuy is the most versatile athlete, because not only does she play the role of "scoring machine" and "blocking wall", the star born in 1997 also has a "divine" serve and can launch shots from behind the three-meter line through the block. 4T is clearly a "rare thing", a special version of Vietnamese volleyball that will not have a second one for many years.