Shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh: Let the dream not be unfinished!

(Baonghean.vn) - In the list of athletes who will participate in the Rio 2016 Olympics of the Vietnam Sports Delegation, the name Hoang Xuan Vinh is expected by domestic fans no less than the "golden girl" Nguyen Thi Anh Vien.

Born in 1974, in Son Tay (former Ha Tay), in a family whose father was a soldier who had regrouped to the North. Hoang Xuan Vinh became involved in shooting quite late after 1994, when he was over 20 years old. In 1999, Vinh joined the Army Club, and a year later he became a member of the National Shooting Team.

Despite his low starting point, Vinh still proved himself to be a talented shooter of the Army in particular and the Vietnam Shooting Team in general. Over the years, he has won many achievements for the Army Shooting Team in domestic tournaments.

As a national player, Hoang Xuan Vinh has won countless medals of all kinds in competitions such as: Sea Games, Asiad, World Shooting Championship... The evidence is: Gold medal in the men's 10m air pistol event at the 2012 Asian Shooting Championship, Gold medal in the men's 10m air pistol event at the 2013 World Shooting Championship, ranked 4th in the men's 50m air pistol event at the 2012 Olympics (0.1 points behind the bronze medalist), in six consecutive Sea Games from 2001 to 2011 he won at least 1 gold medal...

Shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh excellently won the gold medal at the 2013 World Cup shooting tournament held in Korea. Photo: Internet

However, with his talent and experience in shooting, Hoang Xuan Vinh still showed that he has a rather poor competitive mentality. Fans can never forget the "accident" he encountered at the 16th Asian Games in 2010. Leading his opponents by 4 points, while there was only 1 last shot left, Vinh only needed 7 points for the last bullet to win the gold medal, but due to mental stress, the gun misfired and he fell from the champion position to 13th. Remember at the 2012 Olympics, Hoang Xuan Vinh lost to the bronze medalist Vuong Tri Vy by a narrow score of 0.1 points, but if he had a strong mentality, the result would have been different.
Therefore, no matter how talented you are, if your mentality is weak, you will have very little chance of winning glory in high-level competitions. No matter how many noble titles Hoang Xuan Vinh wins, if he cannot improve his competitive mentality, his dream of winning a medal at the Olympic arena will remain far away.

Shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh is one of the three hopes of Vietnam at the 2016 Rio Olympics (along with athlete Thach Kim Tuan and swimmer Anh Vien). Photo: Internet

Now 41 years old, Hoang Xuan Vinh is taking the final steps on the path to the pinnacle of sports. Hopefully, with his talent, and the experience accumulated after many years of competition, he will overcome his psychological weakness in the conquest of this prestigious Olympic medal. The whole nation will follow and cheer for him at Rio 2016. The time has come for his collection of medals and his dream to need the steely courage of a soldier to become a perfect reality - shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh!

Le Thanh Hung

(Chi Khe, Con Cuong)