THE shooting team have yet to qualify for any finals in the Hangzhou Asian Games but the hope is on the last two standing – Johnathan Wong and Nurul Syasya Nadiah Ariffin to come to the rescue.
Johnathan will compete in the men’s 10m air pistol today at the Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre while Syasya will battle in the women’s event tomorrow.
Yesterday, there were more gloom as both Alia Sazana Azahari and Bibiana Ng failed to qualify for the final after finishing 20th and 33rd with 576 and 561 respectively in the 25m pistol event.
Alia did better by scoring 294 points in the rapid fire but faltered in the precision round with 282 points.
Coach Firdaus Abdul Rahim believed Johnathan and Syasya were on track for a top eight finish.
“They did well during the open training here. Both are also Podium Programme athletes, so I believe they can shine and give their best,” he said.
“If they get into the final, I know they can do something special.
“As for Alia, she did well in the rapid fire as her score was better than the scores she had at the world meet but she did not get the desired mark in precision.
Meanwhile, in the women’s 50m rifle three positions, Alia Husna Budruddin was the best performer, finishing 17th with a score of 581 while veteran Nur Suryani Taibi was 34th with 572 points.
Suryani admitted that the shooting had changed a lot in terms of the speed, but would pick up pace.
“I have done my best, my 100%. Compared to 2014, the game play is different. Now it’s faster. We have to adapt and will continue to learn.”
With no finals in the bag, Malaysia will now hope that Johnathan and Syasya rise to the occasion to save the reputation of Malaysian shooting.
In the previous edition in Jakarta-Palembang, none of the shooters qualified for the final of any event.
