Nhat Nguyen: 'I’m totally okay saying I am obsessed with badminton'

Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen in action against Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.

Appearing at an Olympic Games is a universal goal. The business of making it happen can be unique to the sport you choose. For some it is a sprint, one or two events where you absolutely have to be ‘on it’ or else, for others it is a marathon.

Badminton’s path of choice is a year-long global grind. It is a blur of events and airports and flatpack hotels, a sporting egg hunt, as players seek the points required to book their spots in Paris next summer. Some, inevitably, are further along this path than others.

“I’m as comfortable as I can allow myself,” said Nhat Nguyen yesterday.

There are another six months and change to go before his qualification window closes but Ireland’s top men’s singles player is well inside the cut line for the 2024 Games and at a point where he can afford to tinker under the hood rather than clasp the steering wheel for a bit.

The AIG FZ Forza Irish Open is on next week’s agenda but then it’s time for a solid training block through to the New Year where the intention will be to develop a game that has been evolving since his first appearance at an Olympics, in Tokyo two years ago.

“I have come quite a long way [since then] as a person and as an athlete. My approach is completely… When you are young you focus a lot on results, right? Well, for me, I forgot about the development process but I have learned to do that.

“And then the results come when you focus on the right things. That’s what I’m clicking into right now. Still a lot of things to learn but as an athlete I think I have a calmer approach. Everything doesn’t need to be done in a day.” Elite sport tends to accelerate an athlete’s understanding of themselves. Nguyen is still only 23 but he speaks with a wisdom beyond those years when asked to reflect on the journey to date and his hopes and ambitions for Paris and beyond.

STAR: Nhat Nguyen kisses the Irish badge after a victory.

The man who stands on the cusp of a second Games is more mature and he isn’t nearly so quick to see red when things fail to go his way. It’s not that he had a terrible on-court temper, but the bit he had was bringing him nowhere. He had to address it to kick on.

“It was something I realised, and that my coach recognised. It was something I needed to change, to be able to … not completely change but to control it. It is good to have some inner anger in you, to use it in a good way, but you need to be controlled.

“I am the number one player in Ireland, kids are looking up to you, you can’t be throwing racquets, smashing racquets. You have to be a good influence on the younger athletes coming up as well. It’s still a process, emotion still gets the better of you at times.” His singularity of purpose is striking, even by Olympic standards.

“Badminton has always been in my life. All day every day my thoughts are about badminton. I just want to get better. I really feel that’s me and I’m totally okay saying I am obsessed with badminton. Everyone has their passion and badminton happens to be mine.” His main release valve from this sport and this passion is his family - his father Lai, his mother Thuy and his sister Tham – but even here there is no possibility of complete escape on those rare occasions when he isn’t abroad competing, or in Abbotstown fine-tuning.

Tham, who lives across the road from him, is on her own Olympic pathway as she attempts to qualify a weightlifting spot for Ireland. Nhat trains with her the odd time at her CrossFit gym although the relationship can lean too much on their shared athletic pursuits at times.

“She is always taking my multivitamin supplements,” he joked.

It was his dad who introduced him to badminton as a six-year old when the pair looked in on a local club shortly after arriving in Dublin from Vietnam. Both parents have been nothing but supportive ever since as he has follows his dream, though never pushy.

They would, he said, be totally okay with his decision if he declared an intention to stop after a seconds Games so this obsession is all on him and he fully intends stretching this love affair into his thirties and going where few Irish athletes have before him.

“A goal for me is to play in four Olympics. That would be nice on the CV, right?”