Transformed duo hope to see a change in fortunes

PETALING JAYA: The past year has been all about transformation for national pistol shooters Joseline Cheah (pic) and Bibiana Ng under the tutorship of head coach Park Sang-soon of South Korea.

“I have been through many experiences since undergoing the Korean style of training, which is all about changing and transforming my mind set on the way I approach my game,” said Joseline.

“It has been a blast and I have improved.”

Her most notable improvement came at the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games in August when the 33-year-old fired the best qualification score to reach the women’s 10m air pistol final.

“Unfortunately, I missed a shot and did not get a medal!” said Joseline.

The 40-year-old Bibiana, who nicked a bronze in the 10m air pistol at the KL Games, felt the same.

“It’s been an interesting year with new coaches, new training programmes and management,” she said about training under Sang-soon and two other South Korean coaches – Kong Hyun-ah and Park Cheol-wen.

Joseline and Bibiana hope to end the year on a good note when they compete in the Selangor Shooting Champion-ships at the National Shooting Range in Subang.

After that, they will switch their focus to prepare for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, from April 4-15.

The duo are expected to make the cut for the Commonwealth Games based on their consistency.

Only four Kuala Lumpur SEA Games gold medallists – Johnathan Wong Guanjie (10m air pistol), Muhd Ezuan Nasir Khan (50m rifle prone), Benjamin Khor (double trap) and Alia Sazana Azahari (25m pistol) – have been confirmed for the Commonwealth Games.

The National Shooting Asso-ciation of Malaysia (NSAM) will decide on the names of the other shooters after the Selangor meet.