This decision was not unexpected.
The decision not to renew the contract of South Korean expert Park Chae-soon did not really surprise the professional community. Despite notable contributions, the results of Vietnamese archery during its stay in Vietnam did not live up to expectations.
Coach Park Chae-soon joined the Vietnamese archery team in 2023. Before that, he was one of South Korea’s most renowned archery coaches, having led the national team from 2011 to 2021 and won a total of 11 Olympic gold medals with his athletes. More precisely, at the London Olympic Games in 2012, South Korea won all 4 gold medals; at those in Rio in 2016, she won 3; and at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she confirmed her dominance by winning 4 of 5 gold medals.
With such an impressive track record, expert Park Chae-soon is expected to give a major boost to Vietnamese archery, where athletes, despite good technical foundations, still lack the confidence to participate in major tournaments.
It is also worth mentioning that before expert Park Chae-soon came to Vietnam, Vietnamese archery had never won a medal in the Olympics or Asian Games, despite numerous participations. Vietnam has participated in the Asian Games since 2010, but after four editions (2010, 2014, 2018, 2023), it remains empty-handed. At the last Asian Games in China in 2023, Vietnamese archers came close to a medal, reaching the quarter-finals, but lacked the composure necessary to achieve a victory.
Therefore, by inviting Park Chae-soon – who had contributed to South Korea’s resounding success in archery at the Olympics – Vietnamese archery had high hopes for a marked improvement in skills and performance. Before Mr. Park, South Korean expert Kim Su Bin helped Vietnam win a silver medal at the Asian Championships and a gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games, laying the foundation for even more ambitious goals.
Even expert Park Chae-soon, during his visit to Vietnam, bluntly acknowledged the gap in level between Korean and Vietnamese archers, while highly praising the technical mastery and training spirit of Vietnamese athletes. He even expressed his wish to help Vietnamese archery secure at least two places at the 2024 Paris Olympics, one for a man and one for a woman.
Indeed, during his three years spent in Vietnam, the Korean expert enabled the Vietnamese team to achieve several important objectives. Notably, he obtained two official places for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, for Do Thi Anh Nguyet and Le Quoc Phong. This success, the result of long work, demonstrates the significant progress made by Vietnamese archers in terms of expertise, stability and competitiveness. It also fulfills the promise made by expert Park Chae-soon when he arrived in Vietnam.
However, overall, the team’s performance in major tournaments, under the leadership of coach Park Chae-soon, has yet to be successful. At the 19th Asian Games in China, the Vietnamese archery team did not win any medals. At the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in 2025, organized in Thailand, archers won 7 medals (3 silver and 4 bronze) and came close to gold. However, it was one of the least successful performances of the Vietnamese archery team during their participation in the Southeast Asian Games.
The fact that he failed to reach his full potential at crucial moments is one of the reasons why sports leaders are considering not continuing their collaboration with expert Park Chae-soon, especially since his salary is among the highest of foreign sports experts working in Vietnam (excluding football).
The Olympics and Asian Games are about more than technique; they also require courage, mental strength and the ability to withstand immense pressure. It is precisely this “bottleneck” that Vietnamese archery has not yet completely overcome.
In high-level archery, the difference between a gold medal and a defeat is sometimes down to a single arrow, or even a breath. This is why the role of a foreign expert is not limited to technical training, but also concerns the improvement of the athlete’s mentality, thus helping him to maintain a constant level of performance under high pressure.
Will you continue to work with foreign experts?
At the workshop organized by the Vietnamese Department of Physical Education and Sports to gather opinions on the development program of key sports for participation in the Olympics and Asian Games from 2026 to 2046, archery was again identified as one of the key sports, alongside shooting, weightlifting and athletics.
Experts agree that, to create radical change, Vietnamese sports in general and archery in particular still need foreign experts with modern training methods, innovative vision and practical experience in high-level competitions.
According to Mr. Hoang Quoc Vinh, Director of the High Performance Sports Department (Vietnam Sports Administration), the use of foreign experts is essential to help high-level athletes gain confidence during major competitions. The sports sector is willing to offer a maximum salary of USD 8,000 per month to these experts in key disciplines, an amount competitive in the international coaching market. The main challenge, according to Mr. Vinh, is to “find the right person with the required professional skills”.
Many other experts also believe that recruiting foreign experts not only serves the short-term goal of winning medals, but is also a long-term strategy to transfer training techniques and modernize the sports system. The key is to put in place mechanisms to ensure the effectiveness of the work of experts while ensuring the transfer of their knowledge and experience to local coaches.
This does not mean failure, but rather a necessary adjustment in the development strategy. Three years of collaboration with world-renowned experts have enabled Vietnamese archery to gain more experience, improve professionalism and reach high-level training standards.
After the departure of expert Park Chae-soon, the challenge now is which foreign expert the leaders will choose to best meet the specific needs and objectives of Vietnamese archery. Many experts also believe that instead of relying solely on the expert’s past reputation, it is necessary to prioritize adaptability, long-term commitment and an effective transition of leadership to the local coach.
Vietnamese archery still has a long way to go. But if the problem of recruiting foreign experts can be solved, then the dream of winning medals in the Asian Games or Olympics remains achievable, especially since this sport has been identified as one of the strategic priorities of Vietnamese sport.
Trust the local coaching team.
For the moment, the local technical staff, with Ngo Hai Nam at its head, will ensure the training of the national archery team, while waiting for the right moment to integrate new experts. Under the guidance of this leadership, the team will continue to focus on implementing training plans for the 2026 Asian Games and the upcoming qualifying rounds for the 2028 Olympic Games. (Minh Khue)
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