PETALING JAYA: Rifle shooter Muslifah Zulkifli has been suffering from back pains for the last two months.
But that did not stop her from amassing 581 points in the women’s 50m rifle three position in the Selangor Open Shooting championships at the Subang Range on Thursday to qualify for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in July.
The qualifying mark for the Games is 575 points, which is the sixth placing of the previous Games.
However, her concentration was distracted in the final and the Penang-born shooter had to settle for the silver with a score of 441.70 points.
Olympic shooter Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi, who only managed a low score of 570 in the qualifying rounds, was in top form in the final as she accumulated 445.80 points to win the gold.
Nur Afifah Tarmizy of Pahang bagged the bronze with a score of 427.20 points.
The 28-year-old Muslifah said she was surprised to score a world level mark of 581 in the qualifying rounds as she had to undergo treatment for two months because of her back pains.
“I could have done much better in the final if not for the malfunction of the scoring system which affected my focus.
“It took the officials more than an hour to fix the problem and I was already losing my patience,” said Muslifah, who was however delighted to qualify for the Commonwealth Games.
Muslifah said that she would also go all out in the 50m rifle prone event on Friday to qualify for the Commonwealth Games.
“The prone is my pet event and it will be really great if I can also qualify for the event in the Commonwealth Games,” said Muslifah.
She admitted having to postpone her wedding a few times because of training and competitions.
“But I plan to get married before the Commonwealth Games as I am already 28,” said Muslifah, who declined to reveal the name of her fiancé, whom she has known since 2001.
The 31-year-old Nur Suryani, mother to a 14-month-old child, was not pleased with her performance despite winning the gold medal.
“I was blur during the qualifying rounds and only managed 570 points, which is way off my personal best of 589 points.
“I have to train much harder if I hope to qualify for the Commonwealth Games and also the Asian Games (in Incheon in September),” said Nur Suryani, who won bronze in the 10m individual air rifle and gold in the team event in the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games.
Nur Suryani was the bronze medallist in the 10m air rifle event at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.
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