Crossbow Master Lo Van Kien

(Baonghean) -In the past 10 years, Lo Van Kien has emerged as a phenomenon in crossbow shooting in Nghe An with an undefeated record in most tournaments. Not only that, he has also made great contributions in discovering and training many generations of next generation athletes.

Lo Van Kien (left) and his family with the medals.

The road to athlete Lo Van Kien’s house in Lung village, Tam Thai commune, Tuong Duong district is quite muddy this season. Along the way, Mr. Lo Van Khun, the commune’s culture specialist, told me: “If I knew there were journalists coming, I would have called Mr. Kien yesterday. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have met him. He works for others every day.”

Indeed, if you have never met him at a sports tournament, it would be hard to believe that the skinny, dark-skinned man pulling a wheelbarrow full of sand is a famous athlete. Seeing a stranger, he could not hide his shyness, only when he saw me and his eldest daughter Lo Thi Trang talking about the medals and certificates hanging all over the walls of the house did he really open up.

Regarding the path to becoming a crossbow athlete, Lo Van Kien himself was surprised. Since the age of 8, he followed his father into the forest, and at the age of 14 or 15, he knew how to make all kinds of arrows, make bows, and make crossbows to hunt animals. That is why, when the Vice Chairman of Tam Hop commune, Kha Van Thuong, discovered that he had the ability to shoot "100 times, 100 times accurately" and selected him to participate in the district's Sports Festival, he did not know what competition was, nor did he know the concept of a far target or a near target. He only knew that the target was ahead and his goal was to hit the center. To the point that, after winning the first prize in the district and representing the Tuong Duong delegation to participate in the provincial Sports Festival in 2005, after shooting, he did not know whether he won or lost. Only when he heard everyone say "Kien! I won", did he know that he had won a Gold Medal in all events. The success of that tournament was also a big door for him to be called to the provincial team to participate in national tournaments. Lo Van Kien won many other Gold Medals such as Gold Medal at the National Sports Festival, Silver Medal at the Ethnic Minority Congress... Particularly in the tournaments in the province from 2005 - 2010, Mr. Kien had almost no opponents.

Both Lo Van Kien and his wife are crossbow athletes.

After the phenomenon of Lo Van Kien, Nghe An sports also began to pay attention and focus on crossbow shooting, while before that this sport mainly developed spontaneously. As for Mr. Kien, in addition to his main duty as an athlete, he also went to the locality to look for other factors to create resources. The next generation of athletes he selected and trained all had high achievements. Among them are Lo Van Ba, Lo Thi Din, Lo Thi Lieu, Lo Thi Trang, Lo Thi Nga...

What is more special is that these are all his wife, children, younger brother and sister. Thanks to this strong army, in many tournaments, his family won almost all the medals. At the 6th Provincial Sports Festival, the Tuong Duong team alone won 8 Cups and 15 Gold Medals. When asked if he was biased in only training his family members, he laughed: "There is no reason, because we don't have the conditions to travel, the brothers who live close to each other can practice whenever they have free time...". The youngest person he trained was his eldest daughter, Lo Thi Trang. "At that time, Trang was only in 5th grade, very small, and her hand was not yet steady in holding the crossbow. Yet she still won 1 gold medal at the Provincial Phu Dong Sports Festival", Mr. Lo Van Khun recalled. The little girl Trang from back then, has just finished high school, although she is no longer pursuing a sports career, her eyes still shine when talking about crossbow shooting. Next to Trang, her younger sister Lo Thi Lieu was also selected for the province's petanque team. This year, she won 2 bronze medals and 1 silver medal at the National Petanque Championship held in Soc Trang.

The three daughters are also the greatest hope of athlete Lo Van Kien at the present time, because he knows that he is no longer at the age of peak competition. Thinking back on the past 10 years, although sports have not brought him wealth, he still feels lucky because thanks to them, he and his children in the family have had the opportunity to "expand their horizons", to travel to many provinces and cities, and to compete in many tournaments. Not only that, the tournaments have made him love and appreciate the traditional sport of his people, so that he will continue to preserve, promote and spread it throughout the villages.

Article and photos: My Ha