The 21-4, 21-2 in Shangluo is not China's story: Lessons for Vietnamese women's beach volleyball from the LA 2028 Olympic qualifier

I have watched many beach volleyball matches in my 44-year career, but rarely have I seen a score that made me pause and think about something bigger. On Tuesday morning, on the sand courts of Shangluo, China, the opening Pool A match of the Asian Beach Volleyball Championships ended with a 21-4, 21-2 result. The Chinese duo of Yan Xu and Xia Xinyi allowed their Mongolian opponents, Anudari Erdenesukh and Khatanzaaya Purevjargal, only six points across two sets. I could not sit still. I jumped up, even if only in front of my laptop screen in Hai Phong, and thought: this is not a match, this is a statement. But that statement does not belong to China. It belongs to everyone who believes that women's sports do not need miracles, but presence. And it raises an uncomfortable question for Vietnamese women's beach volleyball: where are we in this picture? When I saw Xia Xinyi celebrate with her new partner, her hair full of sand and her eyes shining, I remembered the 17-year-old girl at Lach Tray in 2026 – the one for whom I abandoned my tactical notes to jump and celebrate. A familiar feeling surged: the excitement of a 60-year-old fan who can still run 100 meters, but only with heart. The 2026 Asian Beach Volleyball Championships is not just a title. It is a direct qualifier for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, and for the first time all five continental confederations are holding their championships simultaneously from August to November as Olympic qualifiers. Shangluo, a small city in Shaanxi Province, is not a familiar coastal hub, but it is where the best 24 men's and 24 women's teams in Asia gather. The tournament runs from Tuesday to Sunday, with 6 pools of 4 teams each. What caught my attention was the format: 14 pool winners and runners-up advance directly to the quarterfinals, while 4 best third-placed teams have to play an extra play-in round. This creates a clear 'seeding premium' – winning your pool avoids the play-in, preserving energy for the knockout stage. For me, someone who has watched hundreds of women's volleyball matches in Southeast Asia, the most important thing is not the 21-4, 21-2 score. It is a data shock, but really it speaks to a gap in level, not a magnificent tactical display. In beach volleyball, a set usually ends at 21. To hold the opponent to fewer than 5 points per set is extremely rare, showing that the Mongolian team's serve-receive and block-defense systems completely collapsed under the serving pressure and attack of Yan and Xia. But the score does not reveal which tactics created this dominance. I could infer that Yan and Xia's aggressive serving prevented the opponent from organizing attacks, but there are no specific statistics to prove it. This is a reminder that a lopsided victory over a weak team is never an accurate measure of true level. What fascinates me even more is Xia Xinyi. She has won the Asian championship 4 times – in 2026, 2026, 2026, 2026 – but with four different partners. In a sport where the partnership between two players is vital, winning titles with multiple partners shows that Xia's individual skills – serving, defense, shot selection – are elite at the Asian level. I have seen the best Vietnamese women's attackers, and I know this ability is rare. When you change partners and still win, it means you are the anchor of the team's tactics. With her new partner Yan Xu, ranked 25th in the FIVB World Ranking – the highest among Asian women's pairs – Xia and Yan are still in the early phase of their combination. The easy win against Mongolia is an opportunity to build chemistry before facing stronger opponents. But I cannot just sit here praising the Chinese girls. I need to face an uncomfortable truth: the absence of Vietnamese women's beach volleyball on the continental map. While China has a world-ranked pair at #25, and Japan and Thailand are developing strong youth pipelines, we still do not have a pair in the top 8 of Asia. This is not a matter of talent. I have seen Vietnamese girls full of passion at the SEA Games, with burning hearts and impressive jumping ability. The problem is investment and system. Allow me to be direct: we are romanticizing internal victories while forgetting that beach volleyball is a sport that requires long-term investment in sand courts, equipment, specialized coaches, and international competition calendars. A pair that wants to accumulate FIVB points to break into the world top 30 needs to play at least 15-20 international tournaments per year. How many such tournaments do we have for our girls? I hear the answer in the silence. That is why I want to look at the hidden corner of this tournament. Sports newspapers may write about Yan and Xia's victory, but I want to question commercial value versus competitive value. China has built a centralized system where talented athletes are selected and paired strategically. Xia Xinyi's 4 continental titles with 4 different partners suggest that China's beach volleyball program is actively experimenting with pairings to find the best formula for the Olympics. This approach keeps them leading Asia. Meanwhile, countries like Thailand and Japan focus on developing grassroots through school and university competitions, creating a rich source of young players. And us? I remember the drinking session with my Brazilian colleague at the 2026 World Cup in Moscow. He asked me about Vietnamese beach volleyball, and I had to swallow, giving an evasive answer. That moment taught me that lack of presence is not just a technical issue, but also a psychological one. When you do not see your own image on the world map, you begin to doubt your own abilities. That needs to change. More than 5,000 viewers watched the livestream of three former national team players during the 2026 SEA Games final – I wrote about that and I am no longer alone. Those girls told the story with sweat and tears, not dry statistics. I learned that to develop a sport, we need stories, not just facilities. But those stories need to be supported by a real system. This Asian Championship also taught me a lesson in event governance. There was no 2026 edition – this created a gap in the points accumulation cycle. That gap not only affected the rankings of pairs but also disrupted their competitive rhythm. It shows that even a continental confederation like AVC can struggle to maintain schedules. I wonder: is Vietnamese beach volleyball facing a similar situation? How many domestic tournaments have been postponed or canceled in recent years? The most important thing I want to tell you, the young readers, is not to be dazzled by lopsided scores. Look at the system beneath. Look at those Chinese girls with 4 continental titles and ask: how did they achieve this? Not by magic, but by strategic investment. As I write these lines, the tournament continues, and Yan and Xia have not yet faced truly strong opponents. But I will not be surprised if they stand on the podium on Sunday. I cannot help but think about the contrast. In Shangluo, the girls are fighting for a ticket to Los Angeles. In Vietnam, we are still struggling to find standard training courts. That gap cannot be filled by articles like this, but at least someone needs to speak up. I am 60 years old and I still think of myself as the girl jumping in the stands at Lach Tray. I cannot run as fast as before, but I can still tell stories that make people listen. And I believe that one day, I will witness a Vietnamese women's pair stepping onto the continental sand, not to learn, but to compete. Change is happening, but it needs to be driven forward. When I watch Xia Xinyi and Yan Xu serve with deadly pressure, I remember the line I wrote long ago: 'The 17-year-old girl's double in Lach Tray, I wrote it with sweat, not ink.' That double was a moment, but moments become history when there are people who pursue them to the end. That is what I wish for Vietnamese women's volleyball – not just moments, but a system to nurture them. I have witnessed 44 years of women's sports, and I know one thing: there is no such thing as an accidental victory. When you see a 21-4, 21-2 score, you are seeing thousands of hours of practice, hundreds of international matches, and a well-structured training program. The only thing that can stop us from achieving that is complacency. More than 5,000 viewers watched the livestream of three former players – I am no longer alone. And I believe that, among those reading this article, there are 17-year-old girls with hearts full of desire. I want to tell them: do not wait for tickets to be handed to you. Create your own path, just like those Chinese girls did. As for me, I will always be here, ready to record with my own sweat. On Sunday, the tournament will end. One pair will receive the Olympic ticket. But the real journey, in my opinion, is not about the ticket. It lies in whether we – sports professionals, fans, and managers – have the courage to change how we view women's sports. Not as a secondary sport, but as a sport worthy of investment, worthy of celebration, and worthy of creating legends.