Marksmen bring home more medals from Asian championship
Vietnamese marksmen win silver medals at the Asian Shooting Championship which closed on November 2 in Changwon, the Republic of Korea (RoK).
Phan Xuan Chuyen finished second in the men's individual 25m central fire pistol event with 582 points in the final round on November 1.
He was behind Song Jong-Ho of the hosts who shot 587 points.
The third place went to Shekhawat Pradeep Singh of India who also earned 582 points.
In the team event, Chuyen and teammates Ha Minh Thanh and Vu Tien Nam secured 1,730 points to earn a bronze medal.
The RoK came first with 1,743 points, followed by India with 1,737 points.
Earlier, the Vietnam team also won silvers in the women's individual 10m running target rifle event by Nguyen Thi Thu Hang, and the women's team event by Hang, Le Thao Ngoc and Duong Thi Trang.
Nguyen Tuan Anh took bronze in the men's individual running target. He was grouped with Ngo Huu Vuong and Nguyen Cong Dau, finishing third in the men's team category.
The Vietnamese side collected three silvers and five bronzes in total from the RoK's championship.
This is the highest number of medals Vietnam has won at a continental championship. However, they did not secure any Olympic berths as expected.
The best results of three silvers in 25m central fire pistol and 10m running target rifle were unfortunately not included in the Paris Olympics' schedule.
Athletes will prepare for the national championship later this month.
In other shooting news, the Vietnam Shooting Federation has extended their contract with Korean expert Park Chung Gun till August 21, 2024.
Park will be head coach of the national team and receive a salary of US$6,000 per month.
He takes the responsibility of helping Vietnam have two more athletes qualify for the Paris Olympics. At the next summer Games, Vietnam is expected to have medals.
To date, Vietnam has only Trinh Thu Vinh having qualified after she finished fifth in the women's 10m air pistol event at the world championship in August.
Park first met with Vietnamese athletes in 2006 when the national team had a training course in the RoK.
He officially worked in Vietnam as a shooting expert in 2014. He helped marksmen Hoang Xuan Vinh and Tran Quoc Cuong secure their places at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in which Vinh made history, winning one gold and one silver.
Vinh was also one of his athletes and most recently Pham Quang Huy took gold from the Asian Games last month China.
