Nguyen Hoang Ngoc retained the Asian adult women’s Solo Latin title of the World DanceSport Federation -WDSF- in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday. Representing Vietnam, she finished ahead of Taiwan’s Chiu Yi-Ting and Malaysia’s Geoi Ree Gyn in a competition featuring 32 entrants from seven countries. The victory allowed her to keep the crown she first won in 2025 and complete two wins in three days, having also prevailed at the WDSF Open held in the same city on Friday.
Her return to Vietnam came barely two weeks after she won bronze at the World Championship in Bremen on 28 June. Italy’s Rosa Granato claimed the title and Nguyen Trong Nha Uyen finished second, producing the first women’s Solo Latin world podium to feature two Vietnamese athletes. “Winning the bronze medal at the World Championship was a very special moment in my career, but coming home and competing in front of my own crowd feels completely different. Hearing everyone cheering for me gives me so much energy and motivation,” Nguyen explained.
Denied entry before her return to Bremen
Her performance in Germany carried a significance that was not reflected by the standings alone. A year earlier, entry problems had prevented her from taking part in a competition for which she had spent months preparing. Nguyen reached the border but was denied entry to Germany and never made it onto the dance floor. “It was one of the biggest blows of my career. I had prepared for such a long time, but in the end I could not even compete because I was not allowed to enter Germany. I was devastated and felt as though all my work had been stopped just before the finish line,” she recalled.
Returning to Bremen in 2026 required Nguyen to confront those memories. Her feelings changed once the competition began: “The moment I stepped onto the floor in Bremen, all those emotions disappeared. I only thought: ‘I have finally made it here through my own perseverance.’ It was no longer about proving anything to other people, but about proving to myself that I had never given up.” After winning bronze, she travelled back to Vietnam with little time to recover before the WDSF Open and the Asian Championship. “The pressure is always there, but I choose to turn it into motivation to become a better version of myself,” she said.
Late-night training and limited resources
Born in 2006 in Quang Binh and raised in a family with limited financial resources, Nguyen began dancesport as a child. When she was in eighth grade, coach Khánh Thi took charge of her preparation and helped with accommodation, education and the training she needed to pursue a high-performance career. The athlete spent much of her adolescence inside the studio: “Sometimes I trained until very late and was so tired that I simply slept there before continuing the following morning. At the time, I never imagined that I would one day compete on the world stage or win international medals.”
The physical demands were accompanied by the cost of competing outside Vietnam. Nguyen has had to calculate the expenses of every trip, from training, costumes and entry fees to transport and accommodation. Her career is divided between the People’s Public Security dancesport team and the Vietnamese national team: “Representing both teams is an enormous honour and a major responsibility. Every time I wear Vietnam’s colours, I remind myself that I must give even more than I think I can.” Her international progress became more visible in 2024, when she won three youth gold medals in cha-cha-cha, rumba and samba at the Bailando Open, as well as the youth Solo Latin event in Johor Bahru, where she also finished second in the adult category.
From a first Asian title to the world podium
Nguyen won her first senior Asian Solo Latin Championship in 2025 and carried that progress onto the world stage in 2026. Her bronze medal in Bremen was followed by victories at the WDSF Open and the continental championship in Ho Chi Minh City, where she defended her title against a field representing Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia. WDSF president Shawn Tay connected her journey with the international growth of the discipline: “Solo Latin has become a global phenomenon. Stories like Ngoc’s are essential to inspire athletes to push the boundaries of what is possible on the dance floor.”
The Vietnamese athlete places her personal development above the accumulation of results. “The biggest change is not the medals I have won, but the person I have become. I have learned that failure is never the end and that every setback can become motivation if you are willing to get back up,” she said. After retaining the Asian title, her next objectives are to remain at the highest level of competition and improve on her world bronze: “I want to keep competing at the highest level, fight for even greater achievements and help Vietnamese dancesport reach a higher position on the international stage.”
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