Shooting requires enough conditions to reach the range

Olympic and ASIAD targets are a given

The story of the Vietnamese shooting team's performance targets is of course not limited to the SEA Games like many other Vietnamese sports teams. Because for a sport that has brought home Olympic gold and silver medals and ASIAD gold medals, being assigned the target of repeating the achievement or, more modestly, winning medals at the Olympics and ASIAD is natural.

Recently, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Vietnam Sports Administration organized a workshop to contribute ideas to the development program of key sports to prepare for the Olympics and ASIAD in the period of 2026-2046. At the workshop, when the former Director General of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training (now the Vietnam Sports Administration) Vuong Bich Thang gave his opinion, the first thing he pointed out was that shooting was not on the list of sports "planned" for winning a bronze medal at the 2028 Olympics. Although the Organizing Committee later admitted that there was an error in typing the document, leading to only 2 sports in this list, archery and weightlifting, while shooting was missing, Mr. Vuong Bich Thang's question was also an affirmation of the position and importance of the national shooting team to Vietnamese sports.

Vietnamese shooters practice at the National High-Level Athletes Training Center. Photo: Nguyen Minh

And just a few days after the above workshop, leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Vietnam Sports Administration also visited the National High-Level Athletes Training Center (formerly known as the Hanoi National Sports Training Center) to grasp the situation of key sports teams. In which, the national shooting team is still the first choice for the delegation to inspect and work.

With 45 athletes, 6 coaches and 1 foreign expert, the Vietnamese shooting team is currently one of the most populous national teams. However, everyone understands that this large number is reasonable. Because currently, expectations for a 2028 Olympic medal or a 2026 ASIAD gold medal are being placed on the shooting team. At the 2024 Olympics, the shooting team is also the team with the best results in the Vietnamese Sports Delegation with the 4th place of People's Police shooter Trinh Thu Vinh in the 10m air pistol event.

Or at the 19th ASIAD in 2023, among the 3 gold medals of the Vietnamese Sports Delegation, there was also a gold medal in the men's 10m air pistol event by shooter Pham Quang Huy. Furthermore, the gold and silver medals at the 2016 Olympics of Hoang Xuan Vinh also showed the reason of the managers when placing their trust in the national shooting team at important playgrounds for Vietnamese sports.

Investing from many directions

The most important issue for the Vietnamese shooting team is still the investment method. It is no coincidence that during the meeting with the shooting team, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Dao Cuong mentioned and directed a series of related issues. Among them, it is necessary to immediately hire another foreign expert to train the athletes because the team currently has too few foreign experts. In addition, the lack of practice bullets must also be resolved. The Vietnam Sports Department, the Vietnam Shooting Federation... need to calculate to ensure that the athletes have enough bullets this year.

In addition, the most important athletes will be equipped with a new gun this year.
Adding more information about the investment direction for the Vietnamese shooting team in the coming time, Head of the High Performance Sports Department (Vietnam Sports Administration) Hoang Quoc Vinh said that the Vietnam Sports Administration will adjust the number of international tournaments in 2025 for the national shooting team to help players have more opportunities to improve their skills. According to the original plan, the national shooting team will participate in about 6 international tournaments in 2025, but the Vietnam Sports Administration will adjust so that the team participates in 8-10 tournaments.

This is completely in line with the need to improve the team's level because the current competition density is also "sparse". Since the beginning of the year, the Vietnamese shooting team has only participated in one international tournament, the Asian Shooting Cup held in February 2025 in Thailand. There, Vietnamese shooting won 3 gold medals in the following events: 10m mixed air pistol (Pham Quang Huy-Trinh Thu Vinh); 25m rapid fire pistol men's team (Ha Minh Thanh-Pham Quang Huy-Vu Tien Nam); 25m standard pistol men's (Ha Minh Thanh-Tran Cong Hieu-Phan Cong Minh). In total, with 3 gold medals, 3 silver medals, 5 bronze medals won in this tournament, the Vietnamese shooting team ranked 4th overall. Therefore, competing more internationally will also help the shooters maintain their competitive spirit, which is extremely important for high-achieving athletes.

If the adjustment to participate in more international tournaments, inviting more foreign experts, and buying more guns for key athletes are within the reach of those directly involved in managing high-performance sports, then the issue of ensuring enough ammunition for practice as directed by the leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is really difficult for those directly implementing it.

This issue has been raised for many years and everyone understands that the lack of practice ammunition has seriously affected the performance of the national team shooters as well as the local shooters. Only those involved can understand the pain of seeing athletes without practice ammunition while having the funds to do so. However, the problem lies in the procedural stage and only when the leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism get involved can it be resolved.

Solving the problem of training bullets for the national shooting team is really difficult and this is considered the key to contributing to solving the goal of raising the level of the national shooting team, to truly meet the medal goals at the Olympics and ASIAD in the near and distant future.

Can pay $8,000/month for a shooting expert

Head of the High Performance Sports Department (Vietnam Sports Administration) Hoang Quoc Vinh said that the national shooting team will have more foreign experts in the near future. Currently, the Vietnam Sports Administration is coordinating with the Vietnam Shooting Federation to find 1-2 more foreign experts for the team. Currently, the Vietnam shooting team has 1 foreign expert, a Mongolian named Altantsetseg Byambajavyn in the women's pistol team (with shooter Trinh Thu Vinh). The Sports Department has decided to allow the Vietnam shooting team to have a maximum of 3 foreign experts with a salary of 6,000 USD - 8,000 USD/month/person. (Minh Khue)

Source: https://cand.com.vn/the-thao/ban-sung-can-du-dieu-kien-vuon-tam-i764622/