VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese gymnast Pham Phuoc Hung has gone down in the history books of world gymnastics after a technique that he created and performed successfully was recently added to the Men's Gymnastics Code of Points by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).

Hung's technique is added to the FIG Code of Points under the name "PHAM". (Credit: FIG)

At the FIG World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland last November, Hung took those in attendance at the SSE Hydro by surprise as he successfully completed an unprecedented technique (Pull with straight arms and body through momentary front lever through cross to support scale (2 seconds)) in the still rings event.

Having never been done by any athlete before, Hung’s technique has been included in the Code of Points and competition system under the name of “PHAM” (named after the 27-year-old athlete) with a difficulty rating of D.

This is a historic milestone in Hung’s gymnastics career and also a huge motivation for him to advance further in the sport in the future.

Speaking of his goals for 2016, Hung said that he would focus all of his energy on securing a place at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Hung will join his female teammate Phan Thi Ha Thanh to Brazil in one month’s time for the Olympic qualification tournament, targeting to secure Olympic slots for the Vietnamese gymnastics team.

Alongside Hung’s move, the FIG also granted the same honour to seven other elements performed by Japan’s Kenzo Shirai (floor exercise, SHIRAI 3), Australia’s Naoya Tsukahara (still rings, TSUKAHARA 3), Finland’s Tomi Tuuha (still rings, TUUHA), Russia’s Matvey Tsygankov (vault, TSYGANKOV), the US’s Jacob Dalton (parallel bars, DALTON), Japan’s Koji Yamamuro (parallel bars, YAMAMURO) and Venezuela’s Jose Luis Fuentes (horizontal bar, FUENTES).

Nhan Dan