HANGZHOU – Veteran shooter Nur Suryani Mohamed Taibi’s wish to bag a medal at the Asian Games as her birthday present, was unfulfilled when she missed the chance to advance to the final of the women’s individual 10m air rifle event.
Suryani, who turns 41 today, was unable to place herself in the top eight in the qualifying round at the Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre near here.
The silver medalist in the individual 50m rifle prone and bronze in the team 50m rifle prone at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, finished 44th out of 62 contestants after scoring 617.8 points.
Meanwhile, young shooter Alia Husna Budruddin, showed a better performance when she recorded 619.9 points to rank 39th, which is also her best achievement for an international tournament, surpassing her previous record of 619.4 points.
However, Suryani still has a chance to get her birthday present here, when she competes in the 10m air rifle mixed team event on Tuesday and the 50m rifle 3 positions with Alia on Wednesday, which is also the focus event of the national squad.
National coach Muhamad Zubair Mohammad said that both shooters had given positive feedback and were in a good emotional state after the event.
“There is a huge gap between us and other countries, we need to improve a lot. However, our shooters are showing positive development, and are expected to perform better in the 50m three-position event,” he said.
Meanwhile, the 2023 world champion, Han Jiayu from China topped the qualifying round with a new Games and Asian record after scoring 634.1 points, followed by Ramita Jindal from India (631.9) and another host representative Wang Zhilin (631.6).
Tomorrow, the national squad’s Haritz Iklil Hessly Hafiz will compete in the men’s 10m water rifle event, facing the world record holder from China, Sheng Lihao, in his first appearance at the Games. – September 24, 2023