Nguyen Hoang Phi Vu - Hai Duong's number 1 hope for a "ticket" to the 2024 Paris Olympics

Second time to the Olympic arena?

In 2020, archer Nguyen Hoang Phi Vu made a big splash in Vietnamese sports when he won a spot at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo (Japan). Notably, this was the first time Vietnamese archery participated in the world's largest sporting arena.

This year, once again the name Nguyen Hoang Phi Vu has become the "golden" hope of Hai Duong and Vietnam sports as he has a great opportunity to win a ticket to the Paris Olympics for the second time.

In the last days of the year, coach Nguyen Xuan Thanh and his students are still working hard on a huge amount of lesson plans. Twice a day, the archery practice field is located at the end of Do Luong Stadium, close to the residential area, where only 2 teachers and students practice.

"It's a bit stiff. Be open, don't let it affect you. Don't let anything get in your head," coach Nguyen Xuan Thanh constantly reminded and encouraged his students after each shot. M (0 points), 9 points (2 o'clock), 9 points (10 o'clock), 8 points (8 o'clock), X (best)... are the terms that the coach meticulously recorded after observing through binoculars each of Phi Vu's shots. Phi Vu himself, after each shot, had to go to the target to remove his name and observe to gain experience for the next shots.

The training work of the two archery teachers and students is repetitive like that. Coach Nguyen Xuan Thanh said that training this sport can easily get boring, especially for young athletes who like to jump around. However, Phi Vu continues to maintain a stable, calm, and composed mental state. These are very important factors for an archer to be successful in each shot.

"Nguyen Hoang Phi Vu is making quite clear and steady progress. If he passes the selection rounds and continues to reach the Olympic arena, it will not only be a great source of pride for the athlete's life, but also affirm that Hai Duong archery is always one of the strong teams of the country," said coach Nguyen Xuan Thanh.

The Hai Duong archery team currently has 20 athletes. Of which, 14 are young athletes. The whole team has only one coach. Every day, the athletes practice shooting or physical training regularly in the morning and afternoon. However, recently, in order for Nguyen Hoang Phi Vu to focus on shooting, the whole team only practices after Phi Vu finishes practicing. This shows that the Hai Duong archery team is paying attention and placing great hope on Nguyen Hoang Phi Vu to win a ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Ready to pass 4 selection rounds and 3 tournaments

According to coach Nguyen Xuan Thanh, to be successful in archery, many factors are needed, from weather, equipment, health, psychology, and even luck. In principle, to be able to go to the 2024 Paris Olympics, Nguyen Hoang Phi Vu must pass 4 selection rounds to be able to join the national team, because after the tournaments, Phi Vu is currently managed by the Hai Duong Sports Training, Coaching and Competition Center. After being a member of the national team, Phi Vu must continue to compete in 3 domestic tournaments, competing directly with teammates in the national team to select the best archers.

Although having to overcome many obstacles, from a professional perspective, based on Phi Vu's current level and performance and the level of competitors in the national archery team, coach Nguyen Xuan Thanh believes that Phi Vu can completely conquer this milestone. If they win tickets to the Olympics, Vietnamese athletes will have to compete with about 60 of the world's top archers to hope to achieve results. However, reaching the largest sports arena on the planet is considered a success.

Nguyen Hoang Phi Vu was born in 1999, is currently 1m81 tall, weighs 90kg and has 14 years of training and competing in archery. This is a great advantage for this archer. Because in each test, he has to lift and lower the bow weighing 3-5kg hundreds of times, requiring extremely good physical and mental strength. In addition, Phi Vu also has experience competing in many international and domestic tournaments, so he is not overwhelmed mentally. In addition to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Phi Vu previously competed in the 2014 World Youth Olympics in Korea. He won a gold medal in the men's and women's doubles 1-string bow at the 30th SEA Games with Loc Thi Dao (Hanoi)... However, Phi Vu's weakness is that he is nearsighted, and his performance will be greatly affected if he competes in the rain, blurring his sight.

In the history of Hai Duong sports, up to now, there have only been 4 athletes who have come to the Olympic arena, including: Nguyen Duc Uynh (shooting), Tran Quoc Cuong (shooting), Nguyen Thi Thiet (weightlifting) and Nguyen Hoang Phi Vu of archery. As a locality with a sports tradition, constantly in the top 10 provinces, cities, and industries with the strongest sports movements in the country, sports lovers hope that Hai Duong will have more athletes coming to the Olympics. And at this time, all hopes are placed on Nguyen Hoang Phi Vu, when athletes in other Olympic sports of Hai Duong no longer have a chance to compete.