KUALA LUMPUR: The national pistol shooters are on the right track.
The shooters – Johnathan Wong Guanjie (pic), Eddy Chew and Jasmi Mohd Zain – combined superbly to amass a total of 1,626 points for a silver medal in the 50m pistol team event at the 38th South-East Asia Shooting Association (SEASA) Championships in Singapore on Tuesday.
Vietnam won by just six points as hosts Singapore came in third with 1,612 points.
The silver medal effort shows that the shooters are warming up nicely ahead of next year’s SEA Games, which will be held in Singapore.
Jasmi and Eddy also qualified for the top-eight final in the individual event. Jasmi nicked a bronze medal with a score of 107.9 points.
The 22-year-old Johnathan, who scored a personal best of 554 during the qualifying round, described the SEASA meet as “a good test of skills and character ahead of the Games”.
“It’s a small, but an important, test for us. Winning a silver is good but, more than that, it showed us where we stand right now and what needs to be improved on,” said Johnathan, who is competing in his fifth SEASA meet.
“There are some areas that I need to work on – especially on being more consistent and stable.
“Next year is an important year. There’s the SEA Games.
“All of us will also be seeking to qualify for the Olympic Games (in Rio de Janeiro). We will be competing in several World Cup series to book our Olympic Games tickets,” added the Myanmar SEA Games triple bronze medallist.
The Malacca shooter will now seek to end the season on a high when he competes in the 10m air pistol next.
“This is my last competition for the year. Overall, I have done well this season. I’ve improved my personal best in the 10m air pistol several times this year. I even broke the national record during the national meet,” said Johnathan, who holds the best score of 579 in this event.
“We are shaping up well. I just need to put in more effort to qualify for the Olympic Games ... and achieve better results at next year’s SEA Games.”
In yesterday’s 10m air rifle team event, Malaysia won a bronze through Muhd Ezuan Nasir Khan, Mohd Hadafi Jaafar and Zul Haziq Rosli.
RESULTS
Men
10m air rifle individual: 1. Lu Shao-chuan (Tpe) 204.9, 2. Chow Erh-chun (Tpe) 200.1, 3. Chen Chua-an (Tpe) 181.9. Selected: 5. Nasir Khan Muhd Ezuan 141.1.
10m air rifle team: 1. Taiwan 1849.7, 2. Singapore 1833.7, 3. Malaysia (Muhd Ezuan Nasir Khan, Mohd Hadafi Jaafar, Zul Haziq Rosli) 1823.1.
50m pistol individual: 1. Poh Lip Meng (Sin) 191.3, 2. Nguyen Hoang Phuong (Vie) 172.8, 3. Mohd Zain Jasmi (Mas) 107.9.
50m pistol team: 1. Vietnam 1632, 2. Malaysia (Johnathan Wong Guanjie, Eddy Chew, Jasmi Mohd Zain) 1626, 3. Singapore 1612.
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