Shahera and Joseph break national records in style

All smiles: (from left) Muslifah Zulkifli, Shahera Rahim Raja and Nur Izazi Rosli showing off their medals after the National Shooting Championships at the Subang Shooting Range yesterday. — MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI / The Star

PETALING JAYA: Veteran Shahera Rahim Raja and youngster Joseph Lee grabbed the limelight with national record-breaking performances on the final day of the National Shooting Championships.

Shahera, a mother of two kids, fired 246.80 points to clinch the women’s 10m air rifle gold for Selangor at the Subang Shooting Range yesterday. In the process, she erased the national mark of 246.30 set by 2015 Singapore SEA Games gold medallist Nur Ayuni Farhana Abdul Halim at the Tun Hanif Trophy in March this year.

Fellow Kuala Lumpur SEA Games-bound teammate Nur Izazi Rosli of Kuala Lumpur posted a 245 total to take the silver while Muslifah Zulkifli of the Armed Forces registered 222.10 points for the bronze.

Earlier, 19-year-old Joseph won the men’s skeet individual in a new national record of 52 points. He bettered the 44-point mark set by Selangor’s Omar Risman at the Selangor Open in May this season.

Joseph, representing Selangor, also broke the national record for a qualifying round when he shot 118 points to top the preliminaries. Seasoned campaigner Ricky Teh of Selangor set the previous record of 110 at last year’s Selangor Open.

Despite winning the gold in a new national record, the 32-year-old Shahera was far from happy with her performance in the qualifying round. She was placed fourth with 407.60 points to qualify for the final.

“Shooting 407 will not guarantee me a spot in the SEA Games final, so I’m not too happy with that. I have to work harder to improve in the coming weeks. My personal best for qualifying is 416 and I hope to at least shoot a 413 to qualify for the top-eight final,” said Shahera.

“I need to do better to win a medal at the Games.

“Overall I’m quite satisfied with my performance in the final. Beating a national record is always a good confidence booster,” she added.

Shahera will be making her fourth Games appearance in Kuala Lumpur next month. She won a silver each in the 10m air rifle team event – in 2007 in Thailand and 2009 in Laos.

“I missed out on the 2013 (Myanmar) and 2015 (Singapore) Games as I was pregnant on both occasions. I’m looking forward to competing again.

“I feel I am a lot more mature now and have a lot of experience to draw on. It definitely helps as mental strength plays a big role in shooting,” said Shahera, who recently went on a month-long training stint in South Korea to prepare for the Games.