Missing the bull's eye, Hoang Xuan Vinh only got silver medal in his forte

After failing in the 50m pistol event, shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh continued to be expected in his specialty 10m air pistol event. However, once again the Olympic champion lost at the SEA Games.

The 10m air pistol is the event in which Hoang Xuan Vinh won the Olympic gold medal in Rio exactly 1 year ago. Therefore, after losing the first event of the 50m pistol a few days ago, experts and fans still hope that Xuan Vinh will maintain his strength in the 10m air pistol event taking place at noon today (August 26), the achievement that helped make him an Olympic star.

Hope grew even greater when Xuan Vinh topped the qualifying round with 578 points after 60 shots. However, in the final round of 24 shots (Olympic shooting 24 shots), once again the champion could not overcome his own pressure when he only finished second with 234.1 points. Besides, it must be admitted that young gun Jonathan Wong Quanjie of host Malaysia competed quite well when he shot 238.3 points to win the gold medal in this event, although in reality his score was still not too high.

Hoang Xuan Vinh's sadness when he played unsuccessfully.

And Xuan Vinh's forced smile when congratulating his opponent on his coronation. Photo: Minh Tuan

After the final round, head coach Nguyen Thi Nhung said: "In addition to the fact that the home team's shooter has made a great step forward compared to himself, today Xuan Vinh still did not play at his best and his score was not high, leading to the unfortunate loss of the gold medal."

Meanwhile, talking to us, shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh shared: “The pressure for performance was so great that I could not overcome the pressure, so my 10m air pistol performance was not as good as expected. My silver medal performance was too poor compared to my own performance. Previously at world competitions, most people had to score around 242 points to be in the medal group.”

When asked why he shot so badly in the 50m pistol final a few days ago, the veteran shooter honestly said: "To be honest, I don't understand why I played so terribly that day. It was like I was possessed by a demon, I was no longer myself."

Hoang Xuan Vinh with a simple lunch at the shooting range. Photo: Minh Tuan

At the end of the 29th SEA Games, the number 1 hope of shooting only won 1 silver medal and this was considered a heavy defeat for him and the Vietnamese shooting team. Competing in the 10m air pistol event, Xuan Vinh's teammate Tran Quoc Cuong was the first to be eliminated in the final round with 114.2 points.

Afterwards, shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh had a friendly and comfortable conversation with the media, and ate a very simple lunch with sesame salt and shredded pork brought from his hometown, as is the tradition of the shooting team at each congress.

In the women's 3-position rifle event that followed, all Vietnamese shooters were unfortunately eliminated from the medal group. Up to this point, the Vietnamese shooting team has only won 1 gold medal and 3 silver medals.

According to bongdaplus