Historic Teqball bronze and Karate bronze: Vietnam's remarkable start at Asiad 20

On the morning of September 20, 2026, at the Aichi Sports Center, Nguyen Hoang Minh Tan and Trinh Gia Nghi entered the bronze medal match of the mixed doubles Teqball event at the 20th Asian Games. Their opponents were Dsouza Quimcy Joaquim and Beg Mohamed Anas Imran from India. Very few Vietnamese fans were in the stands, but after two sets, the young duo created a historic milestone for Vietnamese sport. The 2-0 victory gave the Vietnamese delegation its first bronze medal at Asiad 20 and also the first continental medal in the history of Vietnamese Teqball. Teqball originated in Hungary and combines football techniques with table tennis tactics. The table is curved, and players may use their head, chest, thigh and feet, but not their hands. In doubles, the two athletes must take turns touching the ball, and each athlete cannot touch it more than twice in a row. This requires almost perfect coordination, because a single wrong step can make the team lose control. Teqball appeared for the first time in the Asiad program at Asiad 20, so no team had much head-to-head data. For Vietnam, this sport is still relatively new, without a professional tournament system and synchronized facilities. That makes the bronze medal of Minh Tan and Gia Nghi even more valuable because it was built from difficult conditions. On the court, the Vietnamese pair did not win by luck. In the first set, they pushed the opponents to the end of the table with high lobs, then quickly changed to short touches and constant direction changes. The Indian pair had a better physical frame but were slow in turning situations. Minh Tan often pulled the ball wide, while Gia Nghi moved into the center to finish. That positional rotation prevented the opponents from finding a rhythm. In the second set, India chose to play slowly and wait for mistakes, but the Vietnamese duo still kept their precision in the final touches. The 2-0 score reflected the dominant performance. The biggest strength of Minh Tan and Gia Nghi was their movement rhythm. In doubles Teqball, if one player holds the ball too long, the team becomes passive. If both stand too far apart, the opponents can easily put the ball into the open space. The Vietnamese pair chose a small triangular formation, always keeping one player high and one player low. When attacking, they moved forward together; when defending, they dropped back to create two defensive layers. That structure helped them reduce risks and make the most of their individual skills. In a new sport, the real difference is not any single technique but the understanding between two partners. The match against India also showed the contrast between two styles. India relied on power and strong hits, while Vietnam used soft touches and movement in tight spaces. That approach carries high risk but works well against physically stronger opponents. If Minh Tan and Gia Nghi had tried to trade power directly, they would likely have lost. Instead, they used speed to neutralize strength. This is a detail that the scoreboard cannot fully show. Unfortunately, the chance to win another Teqball medal slipped away later in the same morning. In the men's doubles bronze medal match, Ba Truong Giang and Le Anh Khoa lost to the Iraqi pair. Even without a win, their performance showed that Vietnamese Teqball has more than one capable pair. But to turn this into a system, the sport needs more than one event. I may be expecting too much, but a bronze medal in a new sport only has lasting value when managers understand the process that created it. If celebration is followed by nothing, this achievement will quickly become a beautiful memory, like several surprises at previous Asiad editions. Alongside Teqball, Karate also brought Vietnam another bronze medal on the morning of September 20. Martial artist Bui Ngoc Nhi competed in the women's individual Kata event. She started the day with a 0-5 loss to Japanese host athlete Ono Maho. That score offered little hope, but Ngoc Nhi quickly recovered. She beat Choi Haeun of South Korea 5-0, then defeated Leong Wai Yee Shannon of Singapore 4-1 in the bronze medal match. From a heavy defeat in the opening match to a medal within a few hours, that was an impressive journey of emotional control. Kata is a performance discipline with no direct combat. Athletes must present their forms in front of judges, so psychology strongly affects the precision of every movement. A slip or a wrong breathing rhythm can change the score. The 0-5 loss to Ono Maho showed a technical gap, but the next two wins showed Ngoc Nhi's ability to adapt quickly. She did not let the first defeat ruin the rest of her day. For a young martial artist, that is sometimes more important than the medal itself. Ngoc Nhi's achievement becomes more significant when compared with her performances at the 33rd SEA Games and Asian youth tournaments. The bronze medal at Asiad 20 is a step in the right direction. The opportunity does not stop there. On September 22, she and her teammates will enter the women's team Kata quarterfinals against Nepal. If they keep the same focus and rhythm as in the match against Singapore, Vietnam can dream of a third medal. But the important thing is not prediction. The important thing is how the team handles pressure in the knockout stage. Looking at the medal table after nearly half a day of competition, China has moved to the top with 2 gold medals, 4 silver medals and 1 bronze medal. Athlete Lin Xinyu brought China its first gold medal in the women's triathlon. Japan is second with 2 gold medals and 3 bronze medals. Macao, South Korea and Kazakhstan each have 1 gold medal and rank third to fifth. Vietnam is currently ninth with 2 bronze medals. The early standings do not reflect the true strength of the delegations, but they show that Asiad 20 has opened with many surprises. I have followed many Asian Games, and I have learned that medals in new sports are often valued less than those in traditional events. But for the athletes, those medals are still made of sweat, tears and thousands of hours of training. Minh Tan, Gia Nghi and Bui Ngoc Nhi all deserve recognition. Teqball shows that Vietnam can quickly adapt to a new discipline if the right athletes are chosen and the system is built properly. Karate shows that the mental depth of young martial artists is improving. Both signals are worth more than the ranking on the medal table at this moment. Asiad 20 has just begun. But September 20 has told a clear story about Vietnamese sport: the Teqball bronze was built on preparation, and the Karate bronze is not merely a consolation. On September 22, Bui Ngoc Nhi will join her teammates in the women's team Kata quarterfinal against Nepal. If the Karate team maintains its focus, another medal is a real possibility. As for Teqball, the biggest question is not the medal itself. It is whether managers will see the potential of this sport and build a long-term plan, or let it slip away like other milestones. Today's milestone is large enough to create a new direction. The answer will come from the next days of competition.