The strong belief that teachers have in their students
In less than 2 years of playing for the national archery team, Le Quoc Phong surprised everyone when he officially got a ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics. Rarely do experts and coaches in Vietnamese sports confidently affirm that their students have a chance to compete for medals at the 2024 Olympics, but Phong's teacher has strong faith in the 24-year-old boy.
Le Quoc Phong and Korean experts
June 17, 2024 is a memorable milestone in Phong's life. The 2000-born archer defeated Ram Krishna Saha (Bangladesh) with a score of 6-2 to enter the semi-finals of the 2024 World Archery Cup; thereby, he officially won a ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics. It was a historic moment that encapsulated Phong's entire process of persistent training and steady progress.
Phong was born into a farming family in Phu Huu Dong hamlet, Phu Thinh commune (Tam Binh district, Vinh Long). At the age of 14, while he was studying at Phu Thinh Secondary and High School, teachers from the Vinh Long Province Sports Training and Competition Center came to select athletes according to annual practice. The student immediately caught the attention of the scouts because he exuded confidence and a very special demeanor. After further testing, the teachers also discovered that Phong had the qualities to pursue archery, which requires composure, good health and a strong spirit.
Anh Nguyet and Quoc Phong have arrived in France. The two archers had their first training session in the neighboring country.
Phong was selected to join the provincial archery team and perhaps by fate, he immediately fell in love with it. Mr. Ho Thanh Sang, coach of the Vinh Long archery team, shared: “Phong has a very professional training and competition style. In his daily life, Phong is always meticulous and that meticulousness has created a good athlete”. Early on, discovering that this was a factor, a rough diamond that could be polished, the Vinh Long Provincial Sports Training and Competition Center created the best training conditions and registered Phong to participate in tournaments to gain experience and hone his professional skills.
After only two years, Phong was called up to the national youth team. He has an extraordinary will to strive and determination. Seven years later, he was called up to the national team, marking a new milestone in his career. In domestic tournaments, the archer from Vinh Long has continuously achieved success with 4 gold medals in 2022, 15 gold medals in 2023 and 4 gold medals in 2024. When he joined the national team, it did not take him too long to quickly affirm his talent. In May 2024, he became the first Vietnamese archer to win 4th place at the world archery tournament. A very proud achievement, adding to the new hope of Vietnamese sports.
And just 1 month later, Phong won a ticket to Paris, surprising and not… surprising the experts. It was surprising because he had only been on the national team for nearly 2 years. But it was not surprising because he was very good and talented. Expert, head coach Park Chae-soon revealed that Phong was nurturing a big dream with high determination and every day trying to perfect his technique, waiting to explode at the Olympics. Along with Do Thi Anh Nguyet, Phong was arranged to practice under special conditions, with private, modern equipment.
The Korean expert has great faith in Phong, and dreams of a new miracle for Vietnamese archery. He shared: “Although he has only been on the national team for nearly 2 years of training, Phong has shown clear progress in his professional skills. With his achievements getting better and better, if Phong maintains his form, constantly practices his techniques, and has a little luck during the competition, Phong's chance of competing for a medal at the Paris Olympics is very high.”
Phong said: “We maintain a shooting volume of 400-500 rounds/day. The closer to the competition, the volume can increase, helping the technique to reach maturity.”
Overcome yourself
Regarding Do Thi Anh Nguyet, expert and head coach Park Chae-soon commented: "Anh Nguyet has an advantage and more experience than Le Quoc Phong because this is Nguyet's second time participating in the Olympic playground, so she has more or less grasped the scope and competition methods in this great arena."
Do Thi Anh Nguyet determined to create surprise at the 2024 Olympics
REUTERS
The girl born in 2001 wrote a new milestone for Vietnamese archery when she became the first archer to participate in the Olympic playground twice. The last time in Tokyo in 2021, she surprised everyone when she got a ticket to the Olympics at the Asian tournament and was the youngest athlete of the Vietnamese sports delegation at the 2020 Olympics (competing in 2021 due to the impact of Covid-19). This time, Nguyet is among the last 5 athletes in the world to be awarded a spot, when the women's 1-string bow event was added due to an athlete withdrawing due to overlapping with another competition. Of course, Nguyet will not be able to be named in the last 5 spots if she does not accumulate the required number of points. She secured a high position in the world rankings by winning 27 points at the 2023 Asian Championship, 21 points at the 19th ASIAD, 20 points at the 2023 World Championship and 17 points at the 2023 Asian Olympic Qualifiers.
Anh Nguyet goes to the Olympics for the second time
Nguyet did not compete successfully at the 31st SEA Games at home and did not make it into the medalists at the 19th ASIAD. Even at many times in domestic tournaments, she was no longer herself. But the ticket to the Paris Olympics could be a turning point for her to return to the spotlight, with outstanding achievements. She may not be overwhelmed in a big playground like the Olympics. Nguyet has plenty of experience in the field and now is the time for her to maximize her abilities, to be worthy of the long-standing expectations of experts as well as fans. In addition to the women's singles and men's singles, Anh Nguyet and Quoc Phong also compete in the mixed single-string bow event. Everyone is very confident! (to be continued)
Fierce competition
According to the rankings from the World Archery Federation, in the men's single-string bow category, Le Quoc Phong ranked 46th with 101 points. This score was accumulated through international tournaments with points. That is 48 points for winning fourth place at the 2024 World Archery Cup, 24 points for fourth place at the 2024 Olympic qualifiers in Türkiye, 21 points for winning ninth place at the 2022 World Archery Cup in China, and 8 points for winning 17th place at the Olympic qualifiers taking place in Thailand in December 2023. In this category, the top 3 athletes are Marcus D'Almeida (Brazil, 359 points), Kim Woo-jin (Korea, 288 points), Lee Woo-seok (Korea, 258 points).
In the women's single-string bow event, Do Thi Anh Nguyet ranked 70th with 85 points. The 23-year-old female archer accumulated 27 points for 7th place at the 2023 Asian Championship in Thailand, 21 points for 9th place at the 2022 World Archery Cup in China, 20 points for 17th place at the 2023 World Archery Cup in Germany and 17 points for 8th place in the Olympic qualifiers in Thailand in November 2023. Casey Kaufhold (USA) ranked first with 313 points, Lim Si-hyeon (Korea) ranked second with 280 points, Alejandra Valenia (Italy) ranked third with 275 points.
These are all rankings for reference when entering the 2024 Olympics. However, it can be seen that the path to the medal will be full of thorns for the two Vietnamese archers.
Thanhnien.vn
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chinh-phuc-olympic-cho-ky-tich-tu-2-mui-ten-vang-185240721182057085.htm
Comment (0)