Women take the lion's share

26/12/2001

THE National Shooting Association of Malaysia (NSAM) surpassed their four-
gold target for the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games, but that does not mean they
had a great year.
They need to do something, fast, because the men have been firing blanks
and it is their women shooters who have been doing well at the range.
Though the team had exceeded the target set by the National Sports
Council (NSC) by winning six gold medals in the Sea Games, five came from
the women shooters.
Irina Maharani, Bibiana Ng and Suefarinawaty won, among them, four gold
medals.
Malaysia's women rifle squad - Nurul Hudda Baharin, Roslina Bakar and
Nur Suryani Taibi - won the gold medal in the three position 50m event.
Hasli Izwan Amir saved the men's squad the blushes when he won the gold
medal in rapid fire pistol by setting a Games record.
Before the Sea Games, the national shooters returned from the South-East
Asian Shooting Association (SEASA) tournament in Bangkok with eight gold
medals and expectations were high.
The week-long regional tournament saw shooters, preparing for the Sea
Games in September, winning eight gold out of 17 events offered so their
performance at the KL Sea Games was nothing to shout about.
It was not a productive year for the shooters and they hope to do better
next year when they compete in the Manchester Commonwealth Games and the
Asian Games in Pusan.
NSAM have already named their training squad for the Commonwealth and
Asian Games next year.
They are Mohd Emran Zakaria, Mohd Zaki Din, Mohd Hameleay Mutalib, Hasli
Hizuan Amir, Azmi Osman and Hamdan Rahmat, Roslina Bakar, Suryani Mohd
Taibi, Nur Daliah, Nurul Hudda Baharin, Nur Suefarinawati Affendy, Irina
Maharani and Bibiana Ng.
All the shooters were in the Sea Games squad, except for Azmi and Hamdan
who were selected based on their outstanding performance at several
championships including the Langkawi Full Bore Challenge 2001 at the
Langkawi International Shooting Range (Lisram) in September.
Azmi and Hamdan are from Unit B of the Special Assault Forces Team.
The two will join six other shooters and train at Lisram for the
Commonwealth Games to be held in Manchester, England, from July 25 to Aug
4.
The shooters will also compete in the New Zealand National Shooting
Championships from Jan 4 and the World Full Bore Championships in South
Africa in April as well as the Bisley Championships in England in July.
They will continue their training in England until the Commonwealth
Games begins.
Participation in these championships would give them wide exposure and
prepare them adequately for the Manchester Games.
Hopefully, they would yield better results next year.
jugjet@nstp.com.my
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