Vietnamese tanks performed extremely impressively, winning first place at the semi-finals of Army Games 2019 in Russia.

Vietnamese tanks (left cover) participating in the competition. Photo: VNA

On August 11, within the framework of the 2019 Army Games, at the Alabino training ground, on the outskirts of Moscow (Russian Federation), the semi-final round of Group 2, including teams from Vietnam, Tajikistan, Myanmar and Uganda, took place, in the Tank Advance Target Shooting competition.

With a time of 2 hours 39 minutes 34 seconds, the Vietnamese Tank team excellently won first place. The Ugandan team came second with a time of 3 hours 2 minutes 35 seconds.

The two teams Tajikistan and Myanmar were disqualified due to unsafe conditions and collisions during the competition.

In this semi-final, 3 Vietnamese teams competed in a total of 12 laps, each running 4 laps. This was a relay race, so the teams not only had to demonstrate their skills in individual techniques and coordination on the vehicle, but also had to run at a speed so that the other teams could continue the race.

After completing their race, the crew members must leave the car, run quickly 100m down to shake hands with the next 3 crew members, so that this crew can run back up to the car to compete.

The gunners had to shoot the targets in turn with 12.7mm, PKT and cannon equipment.

In the third lap, the crews performed a speed race without shooting at the target.

At the beginning, the crew of vehicle number 3 of the Vietnamese Team with the Chief, Captain Nguyen Kieu Hung, gunner, Lieutenant Phan Anh Tuan and driver, Second Lieutenant Hoang Manh Tuan, performed excellently on the first run, destroying all targets in the best possible time.

The crew's excellent performance contributed to the team's overall shooting performance when Vietnam destroyed 14/24 targets.

The team's results could have been better if during the competition "luck" had supported the Vietnamese team and not caused the tanks to continuously have problems.

The Vietnamese tank team performed extremely impressively, winning first place in the semi-finals. Photo: VNA

In the final result, the Myanmar team completed the test first with 2h21'01", destroying 11/24 targets, ranking first; the Vietnamese team ranked second with a result of 2h39'34", destroying 14/24 targets. The Uganda team came third with a result of 3h02'35".

However, after consultation, the Referee Board did not recognize the Myanmar team's result because in addition to the ramming error, this team also violated the safety rules in using ammunition. Therefore, the Vietnamese Tank team was ranked first.

With this excellent performance, it is almost certain that the Vietnamese Tank team will enter the Final round.

However, according to the regulations of Army Games - 2019, the final result will have to wait for the matches on August 13 of the remaining 4 teams in group 2, namely Uzbekistan, Laos, Cuba and Kuwait.

Talking to us, Captain Nguyen Kieu Hung, the leader of the 3rd crew shared: "When we got in the car, we were a bit nervous. But when the competition started, the whole crew coordinated and were quite confident when entering the competition. Especially, when shooting and destroying all the targets, the confidence in the weapons and equipment of the whole crew was even higher. Therefore, the crew fought very confidently today."

Meanwhile, sharing his feelings after watching the performance of the Vietnamese Tank Team, Maxim, a Moscow resident, said: “The Vietnamese team performed very impressively at the Alabino training ground and received enthusiastic cheers from the audience. The players coordinated very well and competed very tenaciously. During the competition, some difficulties arose, but your players overcame them all and everything was wonderful. I cheer for the Vietnamese team.”

Participating in Army Games 2019, the Vietnam People's Army sent 8 teams to participate in 8 different competitions.

This is the first time Vietnam has sent a large force to participate in a Military Games abroad, and the second time participating in the Army Games with a total of 127 officers and soldiers, and is identified as an important defense foreign affairs activity within the framework of the Vietnam-Russia cross year (2019-2020).