Pistol shooter Xuan Vinh Hoang defeated all odds on Saturday to bag his country’s first ever gold medal at the Rio Olympics 2016 when he beat Brazil’s Felipe Almeida Wu in the shoot-off between the two in the men’s 10m air pistol event held at the National Shooting Range in Rio.
The 41-year old Vietnamese was almost an unknown identity for all the people who hadn’t seen the shooter before. But now he is the name on everybody’s lips after his historic win at the Games. Therefore, we have put together a list of things you did not know about the experienced shooter:
1. Xuan Vinh Hoang was born on 6th October, 1974 in a Vietnamese family and is currently 41-years old.
2. The shooter’s nickname is supposed to be ‘Vinh’ because according to Vietnamese tradition, the family name is “Hoàng”, but is often simplified to “Hoang” in the English language. According to the same custom, the shooter should properly be referred to by the name “Xuân Vinh”.
3. The Vietnamese shooter began shooting at the age of 24 in 1998 when he took up the pistol in the Army.
4. The pistol shooter had competed for the first time for his country in 2001 at the age of 27 when he took part in an event in Malaysia in the men’s 10m air pistol event.
5. Hoang had joined the Armed Services when he was in his initial 20s. The shooter has since been in the Army and represented them at various shooting competitions throughout the world.
6. The shooter has been plying his trade in as many as four different events in the ISSF categories. He has been practicing shooting in the following category – men’s 10m air pistol event; 50m pistol event; 25m rapid fire pistol event and the 25m standard pistol event.
7. Hoang’s first ever medal at the international level was his bronze medal victory at the 2006 Asian Games held in Doha in the 10m air pistol team event.
8. The Vietnamese’s major international achivements include winning the gold medals at the ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning in 2014, at the ISSF World Cup in Changwon in 2013 and at the Asian Championships in Nanchang in 2012. He has also won the silver medal at the ISSF World Championships Finals in Munich in 2015.
The shooter has won the bronze medals at the Asian Championships in Doha in 2012, at the ISSF World Cup in Changwon in 2015, at the ISSF World Cup in Munich in 2016 and at the ISSF World Cup in Bangkok in 2016.
9. The Rio Olympic Games are the second Games for the shooter. He had previously participated at the 2012 London Olympics where he failed to win any medals. The shooter had participated in two events at the last Games and finished at the 9th spot in the qualifying round of the 10m air pistol event and had finished at the 4th spot in the men’s 50m pistol event final with a score of only 0.1 less than the bronze medal winner.
10. Once in 2015, the shooter had been left fuming after his baggage was delayed when he was travelling from Vietnam to Germany ahead of the 2015 World Cup Final in Munich. The hold up meant that he was forced to use a brand new gun without his custom grip and adjustments for the event. This delay did not cost him as he finished in the second place in 50m pistol event.
