Shooting expert Park Chung-gun was not 'abandoned'

BROKEN MIRROR, CAN IT BE HELD AGAIN?

Shooting expert Park Chung-gun is the most successful foreign coach in the history of Vietnamese sports. In more than 10 years of association, he led his student Hoang Xuan Vinh to win 1 gold medal, 1 silver medal at the 2016 Olympics, and helped Pham Quang Huy win 1 gold medal at the ASIAD (both are the first gold medals in the history of shooting in a major tournament). Most recently, at the Paris Olympics, he helped Vietnamese shooting earn 2 tickets to participate.

Expert Park Chung-gun ( second from right ) may continue to be associated with the Vietnamese shooting team.

However, when the contract expired on August 31, Mr. Park Chung-gun did not receive any extension offer, nor any thanks, goodbyes, or official decisions from the sports industry. The Korean expert shared with Thanh Nien Newspaper: "Maybe I will retire. I am very disappointed." After that, Thanh Nien carried out a series of articles about the sports industry's treatment of Mr. Park Chung-gun, including the article From the story of a Korean teacher by Hoang Xuan Vinh: When will the "silver" with talent end?

After receiving information from Thanh Nien Newspaper, the sports industry sent a letter to expert Park Chung-gun requesting a new contract. At the same time, the Department of Sports and Physical Training also submitted a document detailing the contract, goals and tasks for the Vietnamese shooting team, focusing on: winning 3 gold medals at the 33rd SEA Games (2025), 2 gold medals at the 20th ASIAD (2026), and 1 gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics (2028). In particular, expert Park Chung-gun will play a role in guiding and directly training the key invested shooters.

Sharing with Thanh Nien , expert Park Chung-gun emphasized that he will think again before discussing specifically with the sports industry. "Vietnamese shooting needs more investment. I think 3 SEA Games gold medals are possible, 2 ASIAD gold medals are difficult but still within reach, but winning an Olympic gold medal is not simple. It takes a lot of time, effort and investment resources. More importantly, I want a trustworthy and sincere working environment," Mr. Park confided.

NEED SPECIFIC STRATEGY

Shooting is a sport that Vietnamese sports have invested heavily in recently. Although there have been no medals in the last two Olympics, the potential of the athletes has been confirmed. Trinh Thu Vinh reached the finals of the women's 10m and 25m air pistol events (something very few shooters at the Olympics can do), Le Thi Mong Tuyen became the first Vietnamese rifle shooter to win a ticket to the Olympics...

Therefore, it is necessary to quickly stabilize the personnel (experts, coaches, athletes) and strategy for the shooting team. There are still 4 years until the Los Angeles Olympics, but the Vietnamese shooting team needs to invest in preparing for continental competitions to accumulate achievements from now, similar to other sports teams.

There are currently about 25-30 foreign experts working in Vietnam's sports teams. Sharing with Thanh Nien Newspaper, yesterday, September 13, the leader of the Department of Sports and Physical Training affirmed that he had directed the professional department to review and carefully evaluate coaches and experts in key sports to select good teachers for the new Olympic cycle.

According to the latest information late yesterday afternoon, the Department of Sports and Physical Training and expert Park Chung-gun agreed to negotiate on September 24 (expected online). Also yesterday afternoon, leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism listened to the Department of Sports and Physical Training explain the incident related to Mr. Park Chung-gun.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nganh-the-thao-sua-sai-chuyen-gia-ban-sung-park-chung-gun-khong-bi-bo-roi-18524091322102059.htm