Vietnamese shooter still won gold medal despite scoring 0 points in one shot and misfiring

Ha Minh Thanh had a spectacular comeback to win the 25m rapid fire pistol event on the afternoon of August 23.

Ha Minh Thanh won a thrilling victory. Photo: Ngoc Hai.

Ha Minh Thanh broke the SEA Games qualifying shooting record on the morning of August 23 with 586 points. He and teammate Dau Van Dong entered the final as the top two.

After the first four rounds of the final, Minh Thanh was constantly competing with his opponent Hasli Hasan of the host country in terms of points. Before entering the fifth round, both had 13 points to lead. However, the unbelievable happened when Minh Thanh missed all shots and did not score any points. Meanwhile, his opponent Malaysia pulled away with a gap of three points (13-16).

In the next round, Minh Thanh had to enter the play-off round with teammate Dau Van Dong and Thai opponent Pornchai. However, with an absolute shot of 5 points, Minh Thanh won the right to compete for the top 3, while teammate Van Dong lost to his Thai opponent.

Minh Thanh in the final decisive shot. Photo: Ngoc Hai.

Then his Thai opponent shot four points, which meant Minh Thanh had to continue to shoot five points to go straight to the gold medal. And he did the miracle in front of the stunned Thai fans present at the shooting range, who had previously celebrated because they thought Pornchai would surely win.

In the final round, Hasli Hasan and Minh Thanh both had 21 points. The Malaysian opponent shot first to win three points and immediately the home fans shouted to put pressure on the Vietnamese shooter. However, after a moment of calm, Minh Thanh fired a series of bullets and the score of four appeared in the burst of joy of the Vietnamese shooting team.

In the final this afternoon, Minh Thanh also had to go through the gun jamming challenge in round seven, which greatly affected the athlete’s mentality. However, in a sublime day, the army shooter returned after a series of 0 points, play-offs and even the final shots under pressure from the Malaysian audience.

"After shooting a series of zeros, my body got hot and my mental state appeared. I had to focus on doing well in technique and coach Vu Thi Nhung also told me to forget and continue shooting," Minh Thanh said. "Today was a bit unlucky, before I choked on the gun, I was still shooting normally. I could only forget and tell myself to continue shooting."

Minh Thanh's victory, especially with the way he overcame psychological pressure so wonderfully, will be a source of inspiration for the shooting team in the rest of the SEA Games, as said by coach Nguyen Thi Nhung.

According to VNE