Shooters not good enough

18/09/2002

THE national shooters are not good enough to win medals at the Busan Asian
Games.
National Shooting Association of Malaysia (NSAM) secretary Mej Jasni
Shaari was very frank about his assessment when met recently.
"I fear that the public might think otherwise because our shooters have
always done well in the Commonwealth and Sea Games. But since the Asian
Games shooting competition is of the same standard as the Olympics,
Malaysia do not have a chance of landing any medals," said Jasni.
Mohamed Emran Zakaria is the only shooter, among the seven named for the
Games, who has an outside chance of winning a medal. And on Monday, he was
made the penghulu (headman) of the national contingent after National
Sports Council director general Datuk Mazlan Ahmad handed the Jalur
Gemilang to the Busan-bound athletes.
Emran is shaping up nicely and at the recent National Championships, he
shot down the the six-year-old national record for the SB free Rifle Three
Position with a score of 1,246.1.
His score surpassed Jasni's total of 1,245.4 set in 1996. And Emran, 27,
who did not train going into the competition, said he could have done
better.
Emran, who won a silver for the air rifle pairs event with Mohamed
Hameleay Mutalib in the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, said he has yet
to hit form.
The official target for the seven national shooters in Busan is to reach
the final, as the marksmen will also be using the event to qualify for the
2004 Olympics in Athens.
The standard of the Asian Games is very high, with world champions from
China and world record holders from South Korea and Japan expected to
compete.
But Emran believes if the national shooters perform consistently, they
should qualify for the final.
Hameleay, meanwhile, bettered his two-year national junior record of
1,142 points by four points in the final of the individual SB Free Rifle 3
Position event at the National Championships.
The standard is so high that Ukrainian Irina Maharani, a naturalised
Malaysian, was among those who failed to qualify for the Asiad, although
she won a silver medal in the women's sport pistol pairs with Bibiana Ng
at the Manchester Commonwealth Games.
Bibiana met the qualifying mark, which is the third placed finish in the
1998 Bangkok Asian Games, but will instead be undergoing a cadet police
ASP (assistant superintendent) training during the Asiad and has given the
Games a skip.
For the women, Roslina Bakar, bronze medallist in Manchester in the
women's 50m rifle Three positions, Nurul Hudda Baharin and Nor Dalila
Bakar, are also expected to face stiff competition and medals are out of
the question.
(END)