Born in 2006 in the former Đức Cơ district, Loan and her twin sister, Nguyễn Thị Mai, were introduced to taekwondo at the age of nine.
Their father, Nguyễn Trung Diện, from Ia Krêl commune, had enrolled the girls in a martial arts class near their home, initially hoping they would become more active and develop an interest in sport.
“I never expected both of them to develop such passion and perform so well in competitions”, Diện said.
By the age of 13, the twins had won four gold medals at the provincial Phù Đổng Sports Festival.
Their performances in both taekwondo and athletics highlighted their sporting potential, but when they were recruited by the Pleiku Center for Sports Training and Competition, the sisters chose martial arts.
Under the guidance of coaches at the center, Loan and Mai quickly established themselves as promising young taekwondo athletes, regularly winning gold medals at regional and national youth competitions. Their performances eventually attracted the attention of national youth team coaches.
Đỗ Vũ Vương, coach of the taekwondo team at the Pleiku Center for Sports Training and Competition, said the center’s leadership recognized the twins’ potential early and recommended them for the national youth team.
“Loan and Mai were still very young, but the center’s leadership recognized their potential,” Vương said. Training alongside the country’s top athletes gave the sisters valuable experience and opportunities to compete internationally, he added.
At 16, both athletes were selected for the national youth team before later joining the national team.
The Pleiku center, working with the Da Nang National Sports Training Center and the national taekwondo team, subsequently provided the sisters with opportunities to attend high-level training camps and international tournaments.
Their international experience extended beyond Southeast Asia to countries with strong taekwondo traditions, including France, the United States and South Korea.
To help the twins develop simultaneously, coaches placed them in different weight categories. Loan has since emerged as the more prominent of the two at international competitions.
At the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand, her first appearance at the regional Games, Loan won a silver medal at the age of 20 after narrowly losing to a host-nation athlete in the final.
She added another silver medal at a major tournament in the United States in March 2026, where 45 athletes competed in her weight category.
Loan also made an important breakthrough at the Asian Taekwondo Championships in Mongolia in May 2026. Although she did not win a medal, the 2006-born fighter reached the quarterfinals before narrowly losing to the eventual gold medalist in the 49 kg category.
The bout against the eventual champion helped Loan earn crucial ranking points and move closer to her goal of qualifying for ASIAD 20.
Vietnam will send eight taekwondo athletes to the Asian Games, including six competitors in sparring events, three men and three women. Vương said the high level of competition at this year’s Games made Loan’s qualification particularly significant.
The taekwondo sparring programme has also been reduced from 16 weight categories to eight this year, with four categories for men and four for women. ASIAD is also regarded as a qualifying event for the Olympics, with results contributing to Olympic qualification points.
With the Asian Games approaching, Loan and the Vietnamese taekwondo team have stepped up preparations.
“Participating in ASIAD is a great honor for me. It is one of my dreams, and I am determined to give my all for the pride of my country,” Loan said.
Vietnamese athletes completed a training camp in South Korea, the homeland of taekwondo, from June 29 to July 23 and another from August 23 to September 12 as part of their preparations for ASIAD 20.
The team will return to Vietnam before travelling to Japan for the Games, which will run from September 19 to October 4. Taekwondo is scheduled for October 1-3.