With Singapore’s Izaac Quek, the two-time reigning SEA Games singles champion, not competing, Tan was seen as Tu’s toughest rival.
Tan went ahead in the match three times at the Sepak Takraw Academy in Kuala Lumpur, and each time Tu drew level.
Tu played more calmly in the last two games, using close-to-the-table defense to force errors from Tan. The game scores were 10-12, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6 and 11-7.
The title is Tu’s second at the Southeast Asian Championships, 10 years after his first in Indonesia in 2016. He reached the final at the previous two editions, in 2022 and 2024, but lost both times and took silver.
At the SEA Games, Tu won men’s singles silver in 2023 and bronze in 2021 and 2025. He also won gold in the men’s doubles in 2019 and in the men’s team event in 2017.
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Nguyen Anh Tu won the gold medal in the men’s singles at the 2026 Southeast Asian Table Tennis Championships in Malaysia on Nov. 14, 2026. Photo courtesy of Vietnam Table Tennis Federation |
Tu, 33, took up table tennis at 8 and has been regarded as Vietnam’s top male player for nearly a decade.
The right-handed Hanoi native has solid fundamentals and is rated strong at counter-looping and on the backhand, both close to and away from the table.
In 2024, he became the first player in 26 years to win the men’s singles titles at all three of Vietnam’s major domestic tournaments in the same year.
Saturday’s win gave Tu his second gold of the championships. On Thursday, he, Dinh Anh Hoang, Doan Ba Tuan Anh, Le Dinh Duc and Bui The Nghia beat hosts Malaysia 3-1 in the men’s team final, and a day later Tu and Tuan Anh took silver in the men’s doubles.
Vietnam’s women added two bronze medals, through Mai Hoang My Trang in the women’s singles and Tran Mai Ngoc and Hoang Tra My in the women’s doubles, for a final tally of two golds, one silver and two bronzes.
The championships, which ran from Tuesday to Saturday, featured seven events: men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, mixed doubles, and men’s and women’s team.