Shooting expert and coach Park Chung-gun of the national team has submitted documents to become a Vietnamese citizen. Park, who hails from South Korea, has worked in Việt Nam for years and coaches Hoàng Xuân Vinh, who won one gold and one silver at the Rio Olympic Games last August.

The Việt Nam Sports Administration strongly supports his decision. “It is his aspiration after the Rio Games,” said Nguyễn Thị Nhung, deputy president of Việt Nam Shooting Federation. “Park is a talented and modest coach. He played a key role in Vinh’s success. He said it would be an honour to become a Vietnamese citizen. For him, it is a certificate from the country and the people to him.”

The national head coach Nhung hopes the process will be speeded up and Park will get citizenship soon.

After Vinh’s victory in Rio, Park has received a number of invitations to work in other countries in the Southeast Asian region. However, he has so far refused all offers and decided to stay in Việt Nam, one of the countries with the worst practising and competing conditions in the world. 

VNS