Malaysian shooters erased the nightmare of their previous visit to Vientiane two years ago with a brilliant eight-gold medal haul at the just-concluded South-east Asian Shooting Association (SEASA) Championships.
Malaysia failed to gun down a single gold medal from the Vientiene in the Laos SEA Games two years ago.
But the performances of women shooters Nur Ayuni Farhana Abdul Halim (pic) and Joseline Cheah in their respective individual disciplines in Vientiane this time augurs well for the SEA Games in Palembang in November.
The absence of top woman rifle shooter Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi, due to ill health, was hardly felt as Nur Ayuni delivered three gold and one silver medals.
The 21-year-old lass came out tops in the 50m rifle three-position individual event with a total of 675.2 points.
She also claimed two gold medals in the 10m air rifle and 50m rifle three-position team events with Muslifah Zulkifli and Haslisa Hamed.
The Malaysian trio amassed 1,166 points in the air rifle team event and triumphed in the 50m rifle three-position with 1,713 points.
Nur Ayuni’s silver medal came from the 10m air rifle individual event.
Nur Ayuni, who partnered Nur Suryani to clinch gold in the women’s 10m air rifle pairs at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games in October last year, has yet to bag a gold at the SEA Games level.
And she aims to do just that in Palembang.
“I got silver in the team and bronze in the individual events at the last SEA Games. So I hope it will be a gold medal this time,” said Nur Ayuni, who is one of four shooters in the Road to London programme.
“The SEASA meet has given me a timely boost ahead of my second SEA Games, where I expect stiffer competition.” It was also a satisfying outing for Joseline, who bagged gold in her pet 10m air pistol discipline.
The Penang-born Joseline got her act right when it mattered most, shooting a total of 99.9 in the final round to snatch the gold medal by a slim margin.
Joseline finished with 475.9 to claim the gold, ahead of Vietnam’s Nguyen Thu Van (475.4).
Joseline went into the final tied on second place with Commonwealth Games gold medallist Bibiana Ng on 376, trailing Nguyen by just one point.
Bibiana finished third with 474.3 but did not get the bronze as the rules state that only one shooter from each country is eligible for a medal. “I won it before in 2006 and it gives me confidence to look ahead to the SEA Games, where I hope to shoot for my first gold medal,” said Joseline.
“It’s harder this time as there are no team events for shooting in this year’s SEA Games. But we will fight hard for it like everyone else.”
The remaining gold medals for Malaysia came from the team events, where the cumulative scores of the shooters from the individual rounds are taken into account.
The SEASA meet saw the participation of all 10 member associations.
MALAYSIAN MEDAL WINNERS (8-4-1)
GOLD
Women’s 10m air rifle team (Nur Ayuni Farhana Abdul Halim, Muslifah Zulkifli, Haslisa Hamed).
Women’s 10m air pistol individual (Joseline Cheah).
Men’s 50m rifle prone team (Mohd Hadafi Jaafar, Hisyam Adzha, Mohd Shahril Sahak).
Women’s 50m rifle prone team (Haslisa Hamed, Muslifah Zulkifli, Nor Ain Ibrahim).
Women’s 50m rifle three-position team (Nur Ayuni Farhana Abdul, Muslifah Zulkifli, Haslisa Hamed).
Women’s 50m rifle three-position individual (Nur Ayuni Farhana Abdul Halim).
Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol team (Hasli Izwan Amir Hasan, Hafiz Adzha, Khalel Abdullah).
Men’s 50m rifle three-position team (Nurrahimin Mohd Halim, Mohd Zubair Mohamad, Mohd Hadafi Jaafar).
SILVER
Men’s 50m rifle three-position individual (Nurrahimin Mohd Halim).
Men’s 50m rifle prone individual (Hisyam Adzha).
Women’s 10m air rifle individual (Nur Ayuni Farhana).
Women’s 25m sport pistol (Bibiana Ng).
BRONZE
Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol individual (Hasli Izwan Amir Hasan).
Source : Thestar
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