Shooters grab first medal in Asian tourney
PETALING JAYA: For Malaysian shooter Alia Sazana Azahari, winning the women’s 10m air pistol team event bronze in the Asian Air Gun Championships in Teheran, Iran, with Bibiana Ng Pei Chin and Joseline Cheah is like going from a long shot to a hotshot.
The 10m air pistol is not Alia’s pet event but when she combined with Bibiana and Joseline yesterday, they gunned down Malaysia’s first ever medal in the championships.
Bibiana ( 373), Joseline ( 373) and Alia ( 370) amassed a total of 1,116 points to land the medal in the ninth edition of the competition.
China’s Lin Yuemei ( 384), Zhang Mengxue ( 383) and Li Shuyao ( 377) accumulated 1,144 points to take the gold. The silver went to Iran’s Behnaz Gholami ( 379), Golnoush Sebghatollahi ( 378) and Elham Harijani ( 376) with a total of 1,133.
National coach Mohd Sabki Din praised the Malaysian trio for finally ending Malaysia’s medal drought in the championships.
“What’s really inspiring is that the 10m air pistol is not Alia’s pet event but she did well to help Malaysia nail their first medal,” said Sabki.
Alia’s pet event is the 25m pistol, which she won at the Singapore SEA Games last year.
Sabki added that it was a good achievement for the shooters to win the bronze as they were up against the best shooters from China, India, Iran and Taiwan.
“And we did well to finish ahead of medal contenders India, who finished fourth with 1,114,” said Sabki.
“Winning the medal is a boost for the shooters who will be competing in the South East Asia ( SEASA) championships at Subang Range in May and also the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games in August,” said Sabki.
There were no cheers for the Malaysians in the 10m air pistol individual event though, as none of them made the final.
A total of 27 shooters took part in the event where only the top eight qualify for the final.
Bibiana finished 10th in qualifying while Joseline and Alia could only manage 13th and 20th respectively.
In the final, China’s Zhang Mengxue ( 198.8) and Lin Yuemei ( 194.3) took the gold and silver while India’s Ruchita Vinerkar ( 175.5) bagged the bronze.