RI shooters bag first SEA Games medals
RI shooters bag first SEA Games medals
By Novan Iman Santosa
KUALA LUMPUR (JP): Indonesian women sharp shooters hit the target on the first day of Southeast Asian Games here on Saturday with a two-gold romp in the 75-target trap event.
The Indonesian trio of Supadmi, Sarmunah and Sylvia Silimang dominated the opening event in the shooting competition, being held at the Subang Shooting Range in Subang, Selangor, some 20 kilometers west of here, combining 188 points over three rounds to secure the Games maiden gold medal.
In the team's first round, Supadmi scored 19, Sarmunah produced 20 and Sylvia made 21. Supadmi improved to 20 in the second round while Sarmunah advanced to 23 points but Sylvia dropped back to 19 points.
Sylvia, however, made amends for her lapse in the final round with 23 points. Sarmunah maintained her form for 23 points and Supadmi was on par with 20 points.
The 75-target trap event is divided into three rounds in which each competitor shoots as many clay discs, which are shot out by machine, as possible. Each shooter has to fire at a disc twice in a single load. The shooters are divided into squads who take turns to shoot from five shooting stations.
Finishing second was Singapore which scored 158 points from Goh Chung Wei's 155 (15-18-22), Aihni binti Samat's 52 (16-16-20) and Tan Poh Tian's 51 (12-20-19).
Vietnam came third although scoring 158 points also. Hoang Thi Tuat made 61 (19-22-20), Dang Thi Thu Trang 50 (17-19-14) and Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai 47 (13-15-19).
Sarmunah completed Indonesia's clean sweep in the day by clinching the individual gold medal with a total score of 88, followed by Sylvia who made 86 points.
Indonesia team manager, Benny Mamoto, told reporters that such a winning start was unexpected, considering his squad's poor preparation.
"We must thank God that our shooters were able to do their best despite the lack of preparations back home. The difficulties have instead given them a boost to do their best," he said while holding back tears.
"We did not hire foreign coaches like other teams. We had to share the knowledge piece by piece by having discussions with these foreign coaches."
He said he immediately called the Indonesian Target Shooting and Hunting Association (Perbakin) chairman and Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, at home.
Benny asserted that the national shooters produced a significant improvement compared to their last outing.
"They scored only 162 at a sports festival in August in Singapore, but today they far exceeded the mark. This is a great achievement considering our poor preparation," he said.
Benny said his team would keep an eye on Vietnamese shooters, who have long been the dominant force in the region. Vietnam ruled the roost at the last two Southeast Asian Shooting Association (SEASA) championships in Bangkok and Hanoi.
Another strong opponent is Thailand.
"Thailand's Supawan Karjaejuntasak has good potential. During Friday's practice session she made a perfect score of 25 points in a round. But I think she was getting overconfident and that's why she slumped today," said Benny. "On the other hand, our shooters just tried to maintain their consistency."