Ly Hoang Nam will hunt a tennis gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia later this month (Source: internet) Le Viet Cuong, general secretary of Binh Duong province’s Tennis Federation, inwhich Nam is a member, said they made long-term preparations for his debut atthe SEA Games.
Cuong said that if Nam plays to his potential, there is no doubt that he wouldwin a gold medal.
“We have made a careful plan for him for the SEA Games. He trains with aforeign coach and has taken part in many international tournaments. Theseactivities would help him in his best form for the Malaysian event,” Cuongsaid.
Binh Duong has strongly supported Nam in recent years with up to 100,000 USD peryear for his international competitions.
In the last two years, he has made a big leap in world ranking. The Tay Ninh province-bornathlete, who was not in the top 1,000 in 2015, stormed to the top 500. His goalthis year is the top 200.
Nam took part in different youth tournaments in Europe in 2016 and manyMen’s Futures events this year. He has pocketed enough points to be No. 1 inSoutheast Asia.
The 20-year-old is now No 472 in the world and his closest rival is ChristopherRungkat of Indonesia who is at No. 476.
“As the best athlete of the region, Nam will be one of the top three seeds andhe would have a more comfortable route at the event and, definitely, his chanceto win the title is clearer,” Cuong said.
“Of course, we should not pressurise him. I, myself, believe that with a littleluck and at his peak Nam will win. Now we have to wait and see how he playsthere,” he added.
Nam, however, still has a problem with his mental strength during thecompetitions.
Last week he was defeated in the quarter-finals of the Thailand F4 Futures byLee Kuan-yi from Chinese Taipei, who was 146 steps below him in the worldranking.
The loss was attributed to his lack of composure and over-hastiness.
“We do not set any target for the athlete because it would create unnecessarypressure on him. We just ask him to play the best for himself and for thenation in every single match,” said Nguyen Quoc Ky, President of the VietnamTennis Federation.
Nam won a boys’ doubles trophy at the 2015 Wimbledon and is being toutedas a favourite to take the medal in the SEA Games’ doubles event.
Nam, who is placed No 437 in the world’s doubles ranking, will pair with NguyenHoang Thien -- No 783. Based on their positions, the Vietnamese duo ispredicted to be the No. 4 pair in Malaysia.-VNA
VNA
