Host Vietnam to treat int’l shooters to paper targets at SEA championship

Despite being a regional competition, the annual 2016 SEASA will be attended by nearly 300 shooters, including many from non-Southeast Asian countries and territories like the Republic of Korea (RoK), Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. Vietnam will have 56 athletes competing.

The event will consist of 32 competition events for male and female shooters between November 1 and 12.

Though earning gold and silver medals at the Rio Olympics secured his spot as Vietnam’s top shooter, Vinh will not be participating in the event.

Shooters at the Hanoi event may be surprised to learn they will be competing with paper targets, something few international championships still use as electronic targets and scoring systems continue to become the sport’s standard.

Participants may be even more surprised at the poor infrastructure Vietnamese shooters cope with on a daily basis and the ability, especially for Olympic champion Vinh, to overcome such obstacles.

Outdated but lawful

Tran Duc Phan, deputy head of the Vietnamese General Department of Sports and Physical Training, said almost all shooting championships around the world have switched to electronic targets.

“It is rare for events to still use paper targets because it affects the shooters’ performance,” he admitted.

The good news is that the Southeast Asian Shooting Association still allowed Vietnam to host the SEASA despite having no shooting range with electronic targets, Phan added.

The official said Vietnam insisted on hosting the event despite its outdated infrastructure, because “we want to show international friends how Vietnamese shooters defy the difficulties in their training.”

Phan said the Vietnam Shooting Federation had invited chairman of the Southeast Asian Shooting Association to Hanoi to examine the shooting range to see that Vietnam is capable of hosting the event.

“The regulations on shooting with paper targets remain valid in regulations issued by the World Shooting Federation, so athletes can be assured that the championship will take place lawfully, despite the ‘ancient’ targets,” he said.

Nguyen Thi Nhung, head coach of Vietnam’s national shooting, said international shooters have a grow interest in visiting Vietnam and seeing how local athletes train, especially since Vinh grabbed the international spotlight with his outstanding performance in Rio 2016.

Aside from obsolete targets, Vietnamese shooters must also practice with minimal or no ammunition.

“We have had to practice without bullets and only received a few once the completion drew near,” national shooter Ha Minh Thanh said.