VietNamNet Bridge – Tran Tuan Quynh, a pillar of the national table-tennis squad, has left the team to join the Hanoi Club without permission.


The national team is preparing for the qualifier round of the Olympics 2012, in Hong Kong later this month. However, the team lacks its key player, Tran Tuan Quynh.

The General Department of Sports and Physical Training’s Nguyen Duc Long, who is in charge of the national table tennis team, says that Quynh and Hanoi Club had asked the general department’s permission to withdraw Quynh from the national team to the Hanoi Club but they were refused.

However, Quynh left the team several days ago, without permission. The Hanoi Club says that Quynh has joined its team to practice in China to prepare for the National Table Tennis Championships 2012.

This is another hit on the national table tennis squad after Doan Kien Quoc said goodbye to the team early this year. Recently, the team failed to get a ticket to the Olympics 2012 at the Southeast Asian Table-tennis Championships.

The only chance for Vietnamese table-tennis players to get cards to the Olympics is the upcoming tournament in Hong Kong. However, the opportunity is very vague.

This time, Vietnam will also not receive a wild card to the Olympics because over six Vietnamese athletes have officially won the tickets.

In the outlook that Vietnam will surely be unable to take a card, Tuan Quynh decided to leave the national team to serve his club. It is highly possible that Quynh will be punished.

The national team will wait for Quynh’s passports to get a visa to Hong Kong until April 10. If Quynh does not return to the team, only three Vietnamese players will compete at the Asian qualifier round, including Dinh Quang Linh, My Trang and Viet Linh.

S. Tung