Second Vietnamese athlete qualifies for Olympic Paris

Vinh, 23, earned her qualification thanks to her result at the 2023 International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup (ISSFWC) in Baku, Azerbaijan. This shooter competed in the women’s 10m pistol on Thursday.

In the qualifiers, Vinh got 579 points and peaked fifth overall, which got her into the top eight athletes that competed in the main event.

Vinh got 175.6 points and peaked sixth in the main event, while China’s Jiang Ranxin won gold with 239.8 points, followed by Anna Korakaki of Greece (238.3 points) and Li Xue of China (218.9 points).

According to the regulations of the 2023 ISSWC, the top four athletes will qualify for Olympic Paris. However, China will only have Jiang Ranxin qualified because each country has a maximum of two slots in the Olympics. Last year, another Chinese athlete, Lu Kaiman already qualified for the Olympics at ISSFWC.

Korakaki also couldn’t attend the Olympics because two Greek athletes had previously qualified. Therefore, Vinh and South Korean athlete Kim Bo-mi were promoted to third and fourth in the Olympic list thanks to their achievements at the 2023 ISSFWC.

This is the second Vietnamese athlete that claimed Olympic qualification. Before that, female cyclist Nguyen Thi That qualified after winning the gold medal at the 2023 Asian Cycling Championships.

Currently, the Vietnam national shooting team is led by coaches Hoang Xuan Vinh - the legend that won a gold medal in men's 10m pistol and silver medal in men's 50m pistol at the 2016 Olympic Rio, coach Tran Quoc Cuong and South Korean expert Park Chung-gun. Coach Vinh is in charge of the men's shooting team while Cuong manages the women's team.