Vietnam’s nine-member archery team, comprising six archers and three officials, departs for Incheon, the Republic of Korea (RoK), on September 19 for the 17th Asian Games (Asiad).

Vietnamese archers attended a RoK training course, sponsored by the RoK’s Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction, from May 10-21, as part of efforts to get well-prepared for the 17th Asiad. Additionally, Vietnam also sent its archery competitors to the second Asian Archery Grand Prix 2014 held in Taiwan from August 9-16.

Overseas training and participation in international tournaments have enabled Vietnamese archers to hone their skills and gain more experience, and provided them with important rehearsals ahead of their Asiad campaign, said national team coach Dinh Chi Dung.

It can be said that the archery sport has seen strong growth across the country over the past few years, despite the provinces’ limited budgets for sports activities. As many as 19 teams nationwide have participated in national archery competitions so far. For instance, the 2014 National Youth Archery Championships, hosted in the northern province of Hai Duong from July 14-21, drew the participation of nearly 100 archers from all over the country. Thirteen new records were established during the week-long event.

Vietnamese archers also showed considerable improvement in their performances and results at international tournaments. They made the women’s recurve final on their debut at the 16th Asiad in Guangzhou, China four years ago, and snatched the solitary team compound gold medal at 26th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games before surprising everyone by two gold medals and one silver medal in the 27th SEA Games two years later.

With such encouraging progress in the four years since its Asiad debut, Vietnamese archery team has been looking for its first-ever Asiad medal at the upcoming 17th Asian Games set to take place in Incheon from September 19 to October 5.

Nhandan/VNN