Vietnam’s national shooting team, consisting of 14 male and 10 female shooters, left for the Republic of Korea (RoK) on September 4 in preparation for the forthcoming 17th Asian Games (Asiad) in Incheon.

Along with swimming and weightlifting, shooting is also expected to bring home high achievements at the year’s biggest continental sporting tournament.

As scheduled, Vietnamese marksmen will undergo a fortnight-long training course, instructed by two native shooting experts, Park Chung Gun and Choi Jung Ah, before joining the Vietnam sports contingent to enter the Athletes Village. The national team has also returned home from recent RoK training, which lasted for a few months.

The national team coach, Nguyen Thi Nhung said the athletes had been given a chance to practice in a professional and modern environment and learned a lot about training methods from the number one shooting nation in the continent. Particularly, RoK trainers were very good at psychological training and they always knew how to help athletes consolidate their confidence and overcome spiritual crises during their contests, she added.

The national shooting team has pledged utmost determination to change its medal colour at this year’s Asiad competition. Vietnamese shooting has always maintained its place among the leading group in Southeast Asia over the past few years; however, its Asiad achievements have remained modest, Nhung said.

Ha Minh Thanh missed out on the historical gold medal for Vietnam at the 16th Asiad in Guangzhou, China four years ago as he just came in second in the final round of the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event, behind Chinese Li Yuehong, leaving a lot of regrets for both himself and coach Nguyen Thi Nhung.

Hoang Xuan Vinh, known as Vietnam’s first marksman to win an official Olympic berth (London Olympic Games in 2012), is currently the ‘big brother’ of national shooting team. Vinh is also the number one medal hope of Vietnamese shooting at the upcoming 17th Asiad. Along with other prominent individuals, whose achievements have reached world and continent levels, Vietnamese shooting has also targeted success in several disciplines such as rapid fire pistol, team revolver, and men’s and women’s running target rifle.

Vietnam’s leading shooters, Hoang Xuan Vinh and Tran Quoc Cuong, will have an important warm-up for the 17th Asiad at the 2014 ISSF World Championships in Spain from September 6-20. Xuan Vinh and Quoc Cuong will compete in the men’s 50m slow fire pistol and 10m air pistol events, which are also the two disciplines they pledge top performances for at the Incheon games.

The Spain competition functions as an ideal opportunity for the two Vietnamese shooting aces to gain experience, train competitive stuff and make necessary expertise adjustments, ahead of their 17th Asiad campaign, beginning on September 20.

Nhan Dan/VNN