Alia misses spot in final by just a point, takes aim at Cairo next

PETALING JAYA: National shooter Alia Sazana Azahari (pic) will be competing in the next ISSF World Cup in Cairo, Egypt, from Feb 17-24 despite finishing out of the medals in the ongoing edition in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Alia missed out on a place in the women’s 25m air pistol final by the narrowest of margins, after going down 2-3 to Singaporean Teh Xiu Hong in a shoot-off.

As both shooters were tied 11-11 after regulation time, the winner had to be decided by a shoot-off.

In the final, Austrian shooter Steiner Slyvia beat Teh Xiu for the gold while South Korea’s Kwak Junghye took the bronze.

Alia said facing the top eight shooters in the world was a good experience and was happy with the progress she has made, given the busy schedule this year.

“I felt good at the range, and I’m making progress thanks to the training programme set by my coach, the National Sports Council (NSC) and National Sports Institute (NSI),” she said.

“I want to bring this momentum to Cairo and continue improving.”

Meanwhile, another national shooter Nurul Syasya Nadiah Ariffin finished 27th in qualifying with a score of 556.

The NSC have come up with stringent criteria for the shooters to compete in international events this year where they need to clear the qualifying round in Jakarta to make it to the next World Cup leg in Cairo from Feb 17-24.

Johnathan Wong and Syasya’s target of qualifying for the 10m air pistol finals at the World Cup fizzled out in Jakarta on Jan 29.

Johnathan scored 570 points in the qualifying rounds to finish 16th out of 33 shooters in the men’s 10m air pistol, where eight qualified for the final.

Syasya also did not fare well as she shot 569 to finish in 14th position in the women’s 10m pistol qualifying rounds which involved a total of 37 shooters.

Johnathan and Syasya also did not make it to the final round of the 10m air pistol mixed team event after occupying only the 12th position.

Johnathan-syasya shot 584 in the qualifying rounds, where only the top eight shooters will go through to the final.