Trio Tran Quoc Cuong, Hoang Xuan Vinh and youngster Ha Minh Thanh willbe competing in their favourite pistol event at the InternationalShooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Changwon, the Repiublic ofKorea this week.
Cuong, 31, who finished fourth at the BeijingWorld Cup last year, will be competing in the men's 50m pistol on April9, where he hopes to accumulate enough points for the 2012 LondonOlympics qualifiers.
The Vietnam squad will send six members to compete in the men's and women's pistol and rifle, of which five are pistol shooters.
Teamcoach Nguyen Thi Nhung said that Vietnam has high hopes in the pistolevent, and that the National Sports Administration has decided to sendtheir strongest pistol shooters to the international event.
"Wehope that the best shooters will accumulate enough points from theirshots to achieve the Quota Places and Minimum Qualification Scores inall Olympic rifle and pistol events in the run-up to the 2012 LondonOlympic Games," Nhung said.
"Cuong and Vinh are experienced biggame players, but Thanh is a newcomer in international competition.Despite taking a silver medal in the rapid fire pistol in the AsianGames in Guangzhou, China last year, he needs time to perfect hisskills," Nhung said before leaving for the RoK.
The 27-year-oldgrabbed an individual silver medal with a result of 779,7 points from 60shots at the Guangzhou Games before taking a bronze in the team event.
Thanh will contest the 25m rapid-fire pistol on April 10.
Interms of the women, skilful Pham Thi Ha and Le Hoang Ngoc will takepart in the 25m pistol event on April 9, while Tham Thuy Hong try herarm in the 10m air rifle on April 10.
Ha, 32, said she will try to improve on her result in this year's World Cup after a ninth place finish in Beijing last April.
The ISSF World Cup (pistol/rifle) will take place at the Changwon Shooting Range, from April 9 through to April 15./.