Wednesday March 6, 2013
Muslifah & Co show they can be counted on for medals at SEA Games
By lim teik huat
Silver shooter: Muslifah Zulkifli finished second in the H.H. The Amir of Kuwait International Shooting Grand Prix in Kuwait yesterday while team-mate Nur Ayuni Farhana (below) took the bronze medal. PETALING JAYA: The national women rifle shooters showed that they can be counted on to bring home the medals at the Myanmar SEA Games at the end of this year after firing their way to a strong start in the H.H. The Amir of Kuwait International Shooting Grand Prix in Kuwait on Monday.
Muslifah Zulkifli finished ahead of team-mate Nur Ayuni Farhana for the silver in the women’s 50m rifle prone individual event.
Muslifah scored 99-98-100-98-98-99 to finish with a 592 total to equal the Indonesia SEA Games qualifying score.
The SEA Games qualifying score was the silver medal winning mark from Indonesia two years ago and Muslifah’s performance augurs well for her chances to fight for a gold medal at the biennial meet.
Nur Ayuni managed 584 points while another Malaysian shooter, Haslisa Hamed, finished fourth with 582 points. Alexandea Alinovskaya of Kazakhstan bagged the gold medal with 596 points.
Muslifah said it was still too early to determine her chances of fighting for gold in the SEA Games.
“It’s still early and I still have to continue proving my worth in the coming tournaments.
“I hope to get another chance to shoot in the SEA Games as I’ve never won the gold medal before. I’m happy with the score and it’s a good sign that my team-mates also did well as the team event for the rifle prone will be contested again,” said the 27-year-old, who took bronze in the same discipline at the last SEA Games.
It’s important for the women rifle shooters to be on the mark as there are fewer medals to be distributed in Myanmar this time.
There will only be three disciplines contested – 10m air pistol, 25m sport pistol and 50m rifle prone for men and women.
Altogether, there will only be 12 gold medals contested (team and individual) compared to 32 in Indonesia.
The 10m air rifle and 50m rifle three-position events have been dropped by the organisers and it is a loss to Malaysia.
Only the individual disciplines were contested in Indonesia two years ago and London Olympian Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi delivered both gold medals from 10m air rifle and 50m rifle three-position.
Malaysian shooters from the elite and back-up squad are competing in the Kuwaiti championships, which are headlined by several Olympic medallists.
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