Vietnam’s head coach Park Hang-seo has been selected as one of the ‘Asians of the Year’ for 2018 by the Asia Journalist Association (AJA).

The Korean coach was selected in the society and culture category, as he led the Vietnamese team to consecutive victories.

Under the guidance of Park, Vietnam’s football team shone this year as they were the runners-up at the AFC U23 Championship, in the top four at the Asian Games and triumphed in the AFF Suzuki Cup.

Earlier, Park was also named ‘Person of the Year’ by the Republic of Korea’s state-run TV broadcaster. 

Besides Park, the AJA also selected Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Uzbekistan for the politics category; Koo Bon-moo, the late former chairman of LG Group, in the economic category as well as Magdi Habib Yacoub, an Egyptian thoracic surgeon, who was picked for the society and culture category.

"Those people were selected after final deliberation by the AJA leaders and each country’s representatives’ evaluation," Ashraf Dali, president of the AJA was quoted as saying to The Korea Times. "I send my greatest respect to those selected." -VNA