Archer Le Quoc Phong. Photo: Hoang Linh/VNA

In the qualifying round of the men's single-string bow at the 2024 Paris Olympics on July 25, Le Quoc Phong scored 652 points, after 72 arrows, ranking 47/64. This result brought Quoc Phong into the 1/32 knockout match against archer Olaru Dan (Moldova) at 10:01 p.m. on August 1 (Vietnam time). This is considered a big challenge for the 24-year-old Vietnamese archer, because in the qualifying round, Dan Olaru had a good result with 671 points, ranking 18th. Dan Olaru is a veteran archer from Moldova. At the 2012 London Olympics, Dan Olaru made history in Moldova as the youngest athlete to participate in an Olympic Games (15 years and 266 days). The 1996-born archer also carried the flag for the Moldovan sports delegation 3 times at the Olympics in 2012, 2020 and 2024. According to the regulations, in the knockout round, the archers compete in 5 official sets (each set has 3 arrows, the shooting time for each arrow is 18 seconds, the winning archer after each set will receive 2 points, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If there is a draw after 5 official sets, the two archers will shoot a "golden arrow" to determine the winner. However, Quoc Phong's competition schedule will still depend on the weather. The sudden rains in Paris have a significant impact on the organization of the competition, especially for outdoor sports such as archery. Previously, the competition of archer Do Thi Anh Nguyet in the 1-string bow event (scheduled for 0:42 on August 1, Vietnam time) had to be postponed due to weather reasons according to the decision of the Paris Olympics 2024 organizing committee.

Due to thunderstorms at the competition venue, the Paris 2024 Olympic Organizing Committee found that the lighting conditions were not sufficient, so they postponed the match between Do Thi Anh Nguyet and Mobina Fallah (Iran) to 1:03 a.m. on August 2 (Vietnam time). In her second appearance at the Olympics, Do Thi Anh Nguyet showed progress when she ranked 37th with 648 points in the qualifying round. Previously at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Anh Nguyet ranked 49th with 628 points in the qualifying round. Anh Nguyet's opponent, Mobina Fallah, although participating in the Olympics for the first time, also had good results in the qualifying round. The Iranian archer won 652 points, ranking 28th at the Paris 2024 Olympics.