Selangor SA sponsor six juniors

29/11/2002

THE Selangor Shooting Association (SSA) has come to the rescue of six
juniors when the National Sports Council (NSC) decided not to foot their
bill for the 26th SEASA Shooting Championship in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The championship is scheduled for Nov 27 to Dec 8, but as the events
which the Malaysians will be competing in only begins on Dec 1, the three
boys will leave for Vietnam tomorrow followed by the girls on Dec 4.
"The NSC felt that after the Busan Asian Games, there are no more big
events for the shooters, so they did not fund the juniors for the Vietnam
Championship.
"But for the sake of development, SSA decided to send the six young
shooters on its own accord," said National Shooting Association of
Malaysia (NSAM) honorary advisor Ong Hoon Chin.
It is also learnt that as the seniors were not available for one reason
or another, hence the juniors got their break to represent the country in
a competition which is deemed similar in standard to the Sea Games.
"Ten countries will be competing in Vietnam and the competition is
expected to be stiff as the Championship offers `Minimum Qualification
Scores (MQS)' for the Athens 2004 Olympics," said Ong.
The MQS, awarded by the International Shooting Federation, is important
for shooters who hope to qualify for the Olympics.
In the absence of national stars, Lim I Vern, Mashita Ramli, Norhidayah
Ramli, Leong Jia Chyuan, Nicholas Aw Kai Foong and Mohamed Hezir Azmi will
now get their shot at glory.
Selangor shooters dominated this year's National Championships and the
SportExcel Grand Finals at the Subang Shooting Range, so it is not
surprising that all the six shooters selected are from Selangor.
In the Sabah Malaysia Games, I Vern helped Selangor to better the
State's 1998 Games record in the women's team rifle event. Together with Joanne Ng and Zalita Mohamed Yusoff, the trio also improved the Games record of 1,159 by two points.
In Vietnam, I Vern will partner Mashita and Norhidayah in the air rifle
event.
Mashita and I Vern were also in top form in the National Championship
when they, together with Joanne, erased the air rifle team record with a
combined total of 1,164 points.
Leong is another budding shooter. He equalled the National Junior Record with 571 points in the sport pistol. His score matched that of Kelantan's
Nik Arisuddin Atqi in March.
"Although we have sent a very junior side, all of them have been
progresssing steadily since January.
"In Vietnam, they will get a chance to compete with senior shooters from
other countries and maybe pick up a few pointers," said Ong.
Squad: Lim I Vern (air rifle, prone, three position), Mashita Ramli (air
rifle, prone, three position), Norhidayah Ramli (air rifle, prone, three
position), Leong Jia Chyuan (air pistol, sport pistol), Nicholas Aw Kai
Foong (air pistol, sport pistol), Mohamed Heir Azmi (air pistol, sport
pistol).
(END)