Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎), the world women’s singles No. 1 badminton player, and Vietnam’s Nguyen Thuy Linh competed against each other in a group play stage match on July 26 at the Tokyo Olympics.
Like many other Vietnamese nationals living in Taiwan, I paid particular attention to the match. Although I was rooting for Nguyen in the same way that Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi previously said Taiwan and Japan are like brothers, the good-natured match was the perfect example of Taiwan and Vietnam’s sisterly relationship.
On the sidelines of the competition, Tai and Nguyen have formed a beautiful friendship.
Nguyen posted a photograph of herself and Tai online, with a caption in Vietnamese: “She’s my idol, to compete together at such an amazing place feels just like a dream.”
The two women have captured the true spirit of sport and the Olympics.
Although Nguyen lost the match, she and her coach said it was a great learning experience. Nguyen’s coach said that their nerves began to jangle when they realized they would go up against Tai, but it was a positive learning experience.
Although I do not completely understand sports, as a Vietnamese I could not help but admire the match; Nguyen proved to be a doughty opponent for the world No. 1.
Despite Nguyen’s nerves, at the beginning, I thought she could pull off a big win, since Tai was falling behind. Vietnamese sports fans are all acutely aware that Tai is Nguyen’s idol, and as a result, just like me, were even more nervous than Taiwanese fans before the match.
However, Nguyen’s sporting spirit and Tai’s magnanimity as a senior player shone through during the match, which were reflected in the warm and amicable messages left on Facebook by sports fans from both nations. I did not see any criticism from Vietnamese or Taiwanese social media users as they interacted with each other.
Despite the language difference and the potential for sentiments to become lost in translation, all of the 3,048 messages left on one of the related Facebook pages were full of warmth. They demonstrated the two nations’ intimate relationship and the potential of “badminton diplomacy.”
Nguyen and Tai’s match will hopefully spur Taiwan and Vietnam to go the extra mile and further deepen their ties of friendship.
I cannot end without a word about China. The spirit in which Nguyen and Tai played their match stands in contrast to the lack of grace and class shown by some of China’s athletes and sports fans. Taiwan and Vietnam have added to the mounting tally of self-inflicted “humiliations” for China in a post-pandemic world.
Nguyen Thi Thanh Ngan is a teacher of Vietnamese at Chang Jung Christian University and the founder of Study Vietnamese Everyday.
Translated by Edward Jones
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