PETALING JAYA: Perak shooter Nazirul Iqbal Roszaini improved on his bronze medal from two years ago by winning gold at the Malaysia Games (Sukma) and he did it in record-breaking fashion.
The 18-year-old shot 245.9 points in the men's 10m air rifle final at the Subang Shooting Range to take the gold medal on Monday (Aug 17).
His score put him ahead of Sarawak's Rizki Razain Mohd Isti, who finished with 240.2 points, and also surpassed the previous Games record of 242.5 set by Haritz Iklil Hessly Hafiz at the 2022 edition in Kuala Lumpur.
"I've been training really hard and based on the scores I was getting in training, I was confident I could even reach the national record," said Nazirul.
Two years ago in Sarawak, Nazirul had to settle for bronze, with Haikal Shamsuddin taking gold and Amar Syawal Abdul Mutalib finishing with silver.
This time, he went into the competition confident of winning gold and breaking the Games record after consistently producing strong scores in training.
"I was targeting the gold medal and, if possible, the record in the final. Alhamdulillah, I managed to achieve it.
"A week before Sukma, I was consistently scoring around 622 in qualification and about 249 points in the final during training," he added.
