Marksmen shoot for five SEA Games golds

Marksmen shoot for five SEA Games golds

This year, Việt Nam’s Olympic medallist Vinh will not compete as he moves to work as a coach.

The medal hopes are Hà Minh Thành, Phạm Quang Huy, Phan Công Minh, Nguyễn Xuân Chuyên and Nguyễn Đình Thành (men’s pistol) and Nguyễn Thu Vinh (women’s pistol), and Phí Thu Thảo and Nguyễn Thu Trang (women’s rifle). They just completed a two-month training course in South Korea.

Veteran marksmen Trần Quốc Cường, who won a  一0m pistol bronze in the last Games, and Đặng Hồng Hà, who won four Asian Games mobile rifle medals, are threats for top places.

Other potential athletes are Bùi Thúy Thu Thủy and Lê Thị Mộng Tuyền, who grabbed records at youth and club tournaments recently.

The team is now preparing for the pre-SEA Games event early next month and the World Cup event in China some days later. These will be their final test before the SEA Games in May.

Dream comes true

Coach Park Chung-gun and his athletes could not believe in their eyes seeing the new and advanced shooting range at Hà Nội’s National Sports Training Centre  一.

Just two months away from a training course in South Korea, they returned home to see the poor condition and degraded facility had been converted into an international-standard range. It blew their minds.

“We were all excited to practise at the new centre,” said South Korean Park, who came to Việt Nam in  二0 一 五 and saw one of Southeast Asia’s oldest and most outdated shooting ranges.

It was a challenging task for both Park and his athletes because they had to practise with paper targets while electronic targets were used in international competition.

 “It was pretty difficult, but my athletes like Vinh and Cường did a great job, overcoming challenges to grab high results,” he said.

“It is over now. Our shooting range is totally upgraded. It is most beautiful and advanced in the region.”

Coach Vinh said that in his  二 三 years of practising and competing, he always dreamed of the day to see such a high-quality centre in Việt Nam.

He hopes that now Việt Nam has caught up with the world in terms of technology, his athletes will quickly achieve higher results internationally.