Indonesia trio wins bronze in shooting c'ships
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)