Ngo Van Kieu, volleyball ace in the national team and Sanest Khanh Hoa club, aims to fly high in the Asian competition.

Kieu, who stands 1.96 meters tall and weighs 86 kilos, started playing the sport when he was a schoolboy and was chosen to join Khanh Hoa’s youth talent team in 2002 when he was 18. Two years later, he was called up to play for Khanh Hoa in the second-tier championship and join the national team in 2005.

The 25-year-old became a big name at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in 2007 when he helped Vietnam defeat the host and title contender Thailand 3-0 before winning the silver medal after losing to the region’s powerhouse Indonesia in the final.

Kieu’s shots are so powerful that fans have called him ‘aerial fighter.’ He is good at keeping an even temperament whether he is losing or winning.

Sanest Khanh Hoa club coach Huynh Thuc Phong said, “Kieu is very professional at training and in competition. He always sticks to the strategy.

“He is the heart of the team. In some matches, when the squad is behind and most of the teammates are losing heart, Kieu always knows how to lift their spirits and help the team to miraculous wins.”

His Sanest Khanh Hoa teammates say Kieu aims for the best both on and off the court.

All for volleyball

Kieu said, “My parents could see that my older brother Ngo Van Cong, who is also a member of Sanest Khanh Hoa, and I enjoyed the sport a lot, so they supported us to become professional players.

“When we were in the junior talent team, there were not enough facilities for us to train so my parents bought some equipment for us and paid a lot for our cooking so that we had enough energy to play.

“Now, we have food worth VND60,000 (US$3.37) a day, which is better; but I still need some more things like milk and medicine to build my strength.

“Every day, I practice with the team for five or six hours and do extra training on my own.”

Kieu says he is constantly trying to perfect himself by improving his shots. In Vietnam’s 3-0 win over Thailand at the 24th SEA Games in Thailand in 2007, Kieu made only three unforced errors. He has improved a lot in the past couple of years.

“I was a bit inexperienced when we played Indonesia at the SEA Games in 2007, but I have learned a lot since then. I think things will be different if we face them again,” Kieu said.

Despite Vietnam’s loss to Indonesia, Indonesian club Samator was impressed by Kieu’s performance at the tournament and, after the regional Games, talked to Sanest Khanh Hoa about moving the striker to Samator.

The Vietnamese club had just been promoted to the top-flight national championship that year, so they needed to keep Kieu on their team too.

The two clubs discussed and agreed that Kieu could play in Indonesia from January 2008 till March for the Indonesian championships.

In the years between SEA Games, there is another competition in Indonesia from June to August, so Kieu happily returned to play for Samator.

“It is more competitive in Indonesia because each club can have two foreign players,” Kieu said, “The facilities are also better than in Vietnam.

“I receive US$2,000 a month from Samator plus allowances for travel, food and accommodation. The Indonesian club aims to be among Asia’s top clubs so I hope I can keep playing for them long term.”

Kieu, who played for Sanest Khanh Hoa in the second leg of the national championship that finished Saturday, hopes to play for a club in China, Japan or South Korea so he can compete against clubs from West Asian countries or Europe.

Kieu said it was a dream worth working toward.

He wants to put in a good performance at the SEA Games in Laos late this year and Asiad in China next year, hoping to climb to Asia’s heights in his professional career.

VietNamNet/Thanh Nien