Selangor
KANGAR: Selangor shooter Tan Tong Tat’s world came crumbling down following the death of his father Tan Khong due to a heart attack one month ago.
For the first week after his father’s death, the 18-year-old felt was devastated that he wanted to give up everything he loved doing – including shooting.
However, Tong Tat later changed his mind as it would have been against his father’s wishes.
The Selangor shooter was rewarded for his perseverance when he shot down 569 points for the gold medal in the Malaysia Games (Sukma) men’s 25m sport pistol event at the Sungai Batu Pahat Shooting Range on Tuesday.
“My father was the one who introduced me to shooting as he used to go hunting for wild boars in the Pahang jungle,” said Tong Tat.
“It was his dream to see me do well in shooting. If I had quit following his death, I would have had to live with the guilt of letting him down.”
“This win is for you, dad,” said Tong Tat, tears welling up in his eyes.
Rishipal Singh Dhanoa made it a double celebration for Selangor by taking the silver with a 567 total.
The 19-year-old Rishipal shot to prominence in Perlis by upstaging the national back-up and elite shooters to bag the men’s 10m air pistol individual gold medal on Monday.
“Nobody knew about me before this Sukma, and now I hope to have done enough to get called up by the national selectors,” said the lanky Rishipal.
Despite their one-two individual haul, Selangor failed to bag the team gold medal in the event after finishing behind Terengganu.
The Terengganu trio of Safirredzuan Salim, Raja Ahmad Firdaus and Nik Muhammad Luqman captured the gold with a 1,686 total. Selangor’s Tong Tat, Rishipal and Noor Aizam Nuqman settled for the silver on 1,679.
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