KUALA LUMPUR: When Greek shooter Anna Korakaki made a golden debut in the Rio Olympics, bagging a gold and a bronze, she inspired a new shooter to step out in Malaysia.
Sarah Aneesa Mazwan took up shooting after reading about Korakaki – and the 20-year-old Kuala Lumpur lass also has her eyes on the Olympics.
“I admire Korakaki as she was just 20 and was the first woman from Greece to win two Olympics medals (a gold in the women’s 25m pistol and bronze in the 10m air pistol), ” said Sarah, who is also a pistol shooter.
“I have never met Korakaki but I read about the way she trains and how she made tremendous progress in pistol events.
“She has been consistent in competitions by winning medals in the World Championships, European Championships and European Games, ” said Sarah, who won gold in the 10m air pistol in the SportExcel-NSC-NSAM Championships last year.
She also won the team gold in 25m pistol and team bronze in the 10m pistol at the South-East Asia (SEASA) Junior Championships in 2016.
Now, the Malaysian’s goal in life is to feature in the Olympics either in 2024 or 2028.
“To achieve that, I have to train much harder and keep improving my personal scores. I also need to start upstaging national pistol shooters like Alia (Sazana Azahari) in domestic competitions, ” said Sarah, who has a personal best of 562 for both the 10m and 25m pistol events.
Sarah, who is pursuing a degree in sports science at Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia, said her goal next year was to win medals in both the pistol events in Sukma (Malaysia Games) in Johor Baru next year.
“Winning medals at Sukma will definitely drive me to win a place in the national team next year, ” said Sarah.
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