Indonesia trio wins bronze in shooting c'ships
JAKARTA (JP): A bronze medal in hand was worth a fortune when Indonesia ended 12 years of drought on the fourth day of the eighth Asian Shooting Championships here yesterday.
It was the women's double trap trio of Sarmunah, Supadmi and Silvia Silimang who earned the host team the much awaited medal. Playing under immense pressure after missing the small bore rifle prone on Wednesday, they managed to combine a total score of 281 to finish third behind China and South Korea.
Lely Sampoerno lifted Indonesia its lone medal when she triumphed in the sports pistol with a new Asian record in the 1983 meet here.
As it had been expected, however, China sped up its gold mine sweeper into a full gear with a haul of seven out of 10 golds offered yesterday to stiffen its stranglehold on the championship.
Wang Yifu highlighted China's startling showing when he repeated his Asian Games golden double with his air pistol victory to complete his free pistol triumph on Wednesday.
Sixteen golds
After the fourth day of competition, defending champion China remained steady with 16 golds, nine silvers and five bronzes, leaving South Korea a distant second with four golds, four silvers and five bronzes.
Japan also broke the duck after three days without any gold medals when it produced a clean sweep in the men's small bore free rifle prone to move up to the third overall with two golds, four silvers and six bronzes.
Tears and hugs marked Indonesia's celebration at the National Army's Cilodong shooting range, Bogor, West Java. A throng of local journalists pricked up their ears to Sarmunah, Supadmi and Silvia, losing their desire to interview the Chinese who swept all four golds up for grabs in the men's and women's double trap.
"We should have done better. I was too nervous," ace shooter Sarmunah said. "We should take our hats off to Silvia because she was our trump card today," she added. Silvia scored her best of 97, three points better than Supadmi and seven up against Sarmunah.
Team manager Benny Momutu said the outcome did not surprise him a lot, but he praised his team's performance. "We have set a realistic target of winning the bronze. Both China and South Korea are strong rivals," he said. The Indonesian trio won the silver in the Asian Games last year, when the double trap was competed as an exhibition event.
China, powered by Xu Xiang, Wang Yujin and Gao E, won the gold with a total score of 307. South Korea took the silver. Xu and Gao also finished first and second respectively in the individual event, with the bronze going to South Korea's Lee Sang-hee.
In the men's individual double trap, Chinese shooters seized all the medals, with Zhang Yongie winning the gold, Zhang Bing the silver and Li Bo the bronze. They compiled 386 points to take the team event.
Mongolia also celebrated its first gold through Munkhbayar Dorsjuren who won the women's sports pistol. Using a pistol she borrowed from the organizing committee, defending champion Munkhbayar shot 681.1 points to beat Yoko Inada of Japan and Liang Yan of China.
It was sweet revenge for Munkhbayar who loss to Liang in the air pistol on Thursday. China won a consolation as Liang, Liu Hongxia and Lu Fang totaled 1,732 to grab the team gold, just seven points better than the Mongolian trio of Munkhbayar, Gundegmaa Otryad and Oyun Davaajantsar. (amd)