After a long battle with illness, Ms. Huynh Ngoc Lien breathed her last at 11:00 a.m. on November 29 and was cremated at Ben Tre on November 30 in the afternoon. This is sad news not only for badminton in Ho Chi Minh City but also for the whole country.
During her lifetime, Ms. Huynh Ngoc Lien made many contributions to bring Vietnamese badminton to the international level. She met several times with leaders and sponsors to invest in Nguyen Tien Minh to compete internationally.
Ms Huynh Ngoc Lien (right) and Nguyen Tien Minh at the 2012 London Olympics.
In his prime, Tien Min beat Malaysian legend Lee Chong Wei to enter the world’s top 5 male tennis players. Minh’s success received a lot of support from Ms. Huynh Ngoc Lien, who raised sponsorship and even spent her own money to take Minh abroad to train and compete.
Besides helping Tien Minh, Ms. Lien also supported many other Vietnamese badminton athletes in many international tournaments.
Ms. Huynh Ngoc Lien has established good relations with the World Badminton Federation and the Asian Badminton Federation and has taken the lead in training international referees for Vietnam Badminton. Thanks to this, currently Vietnam Badminton has produced many qualified referees and is holding the world’s leading Badminton tournaments.
Ms. Lien has been advising and supporting the Federation in difficult times since she left the role of Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Badminton Federation.