At the men's doubles final of the Pickleball Thanh Hoa 2026 tournament on the evening of 14/6, Minh Quan partnered with Truong Vinh Hien against the duo Huy Cau Long and Trinh Linh Giang. After losing the first set, Quan and Hien rallied in the remaining two sets to take the lead. In the final points of the third set, Minh Quan suffered muscle cramps, walking with a limp but still managed to defeat his younger opponents to win the championship. Linh Giang, after hitting a shot out, threw his racket and kicked the net forcefully.
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Pickleball player Do Minh Quan was exhausted after the Thanh Hoa Open final on the evening of 14/6 in Thanh Hoa. Photo: Do Minh Quan pickleball
After the one-hour-thirty-minute final, Minh Quan was exhausted, unable to walk, and had to lie down on the court for medical attention. "After the final, I felt completely drained of all my energy. The harsh weather along with the pressure of competition made the match much more intense and difficult. But I still pushed through to the final points. Thank you everyone for your concern," the player wrote on his personal page.
Afterward, Minh Quan posted an image of himself leaving the court by ambulance, escorted by teammates and staff back to the hotel for care. Despite this, he expects to recover in time to fly to China on the evening of 15/6 to compete in the Beijing Open.
Born in 1984 in TP HCM, Minh Quan is considered an early star of Vietnamese pickleball. He was a symbol of Vietnamese tennis in the early 21st century, winning 10 men's singles championships and competing in many international tournaments, including the Davis Cup. After ending his professional playing career, he moved to the United States to live and pursue tennis coaching.
When the pickleball movement flourished in Vietnam, Minh Quan embraced it, playing alongside his coaching work. Thanks to his tennis foundation, skillful and resilient playing style, and intelligent tactics, he quickly achieved many successes when partnering with younger players, mostly with Truong Vinh Hien.
Teammates took Minh Quan to the hotel by stretcher. Video: Truong Vinh Hien pickleball
This veteran-youngster duo has reached top 4 in Asian Pickleball according to the DUPR system, won the men's doubles 5.0 level championship in the APP Tour system, Pro category at the PWR Thu Duc HTV D-joy Open, and triumphed at the PPA Tour Asia Open 2025 in Hangzhou, China.
| Pickleball is a sport played indoors or outdoors, in two categories: singles (two players) or doubles (four players) on a rectangular court. Players use a paddle with a smooth surface to hit a hollow, perforated plastic ball over a 0,86 m high net until one side cannot return the ball or commits a fault. Essentially, pickleball is a "hybrid" sport of tennis, table tennis, and badminton, as players compete on a court similar in size to a badminton court, use a flat paddle smaller than a tennis racket but larger than a table tennis paddle, and use a small, lighter ball than a tennis ball. In Vietnam, pickleball was introduced in 2018, developing primarily in TP HCM before expanding to Hanoi and becoming a popular sport in the last two years, with tens of thousands of people practicing and playing nationwide. However, this demanding sport has also caused many players to collapse, such as tennis and pickleball player Le Cong Tien who passed away in 1/2026. In 5/2025, a man died while playing pickleball, and in 4/2026, a 47-year-old man in TP HCM was fortunate to be saved after suffering a heart attack on the pickleball court. |
Duc Dong
