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Roundup: Vietnamese media, fans hail Hoang Xuan Vinh's Olympic gold medal, Vietnam's first in history

Xinhua, August 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

"Hoang Xuan Vinh makes history", "Hoang Xuan Vinh rocks Rio Olympics", "Hoang Xuan Vinh creates great miracle", Vietnamese media on Sunday morning run titles hailing the event that Vietnam's marksman Hoang Xuan Vinh won first-ever Olympic gold medal for Vietnam in Rio.

"Today is the most glorious day of Vietnamese sports when Hoang Xuan Vinh added a brilliant mark in the history," local Thanh Nien (Young People) online newspaper wrote in its article.

Vietnam has won two Olympic silvers prior to the 2016 Games, one from weightlifting in 2012 and the other from taekwondo in 2008. But today, Vietnamese sports stepped to a new height, earning a gold medal at Olympics and having an athlete who broke Olympic record, Thanh Nien said.

"The history will never forget the best moment when Hoang Xuan Vinh had his final shot to claim the sweet victory with 202.5 points in the men's 10m air pistol event," the report added.

With stable performance in qualifying, veteran marksman Hoang Xuan Vinh was expected to bring a medal back for Vietnamese delegation at Rio, and he actually did the best possible. This is a historic gold medal of Vietnamese sports at Olympics, local Vietnamnet online newspaper said.

Born in 1974, Vinh joined Vietnam's national shooting team in 2000. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Vinh finished ninth in the men's 10m air pistol in the qualifying round, failing to make the cut for the finals by a single point. He also failed to win a medal, taking the fourth place in the men's 50m pistol final with a score only 0.1 less than the winner of the bronze medal.

He has won many medals in tournaments in the country, SEA Games as well as Asian and world events.

After the winning, Vietnamese Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien sent a congratulatory letter to Vinh and the Vietnamese delegation in Rio, saying this is the first Olympic gold for Vietnam and the first time Vietnam has broken Olympic record thanks to Hoang Xuan Vinh.

"This victory was achieved thanks to the heroic spirit and the high determination of the coach and the athlete. The Olympic gold medal of Hoang Xuan Vinh also satisfies millions of Vietnamese fans nationwide who are watching every step of the Vietnamese delegation at Rio Olympics 2016," reads the letter.

"Congratulations to the hero of Vietnam. Many thanks to you," a reader named Quang Minh commented on an article on VNExpress online newspaper.

"I cried when Hoang Xuan Vinh claimed glory for the nation," another reader wrote.

"It was wonderful. Vietnam had to wait for this gold medal for so long time," reader Doc Le said.

"Unbelievable", "He is a legend of Vietnamese sports", "This is history", other Vietnamese fans commented. Endit