China’s rising shooting star Huang Yuting, 17, wins double gold at Asian Games

HANGZHOU – The big stage does not faze China’s teenage shooter Huang Yuting.

Making her international debut in October 2022, she shone in one of the biggest competitions in her sport – the 2022 ISSF World Shooting Championships in Cairo – taking home two golds and a silver.

The 17-year-old has been unstoppable since, also clinching gold in the 10m air rifle mixed team event with Sheng Lihao at the 2023 world championships.

On Sunday, China’s rising shooting star bagged both the individual and team golds in the women’s 10m air rifle at the Asian Games.

Standing among a field of older competitors, the teenager was a picture of calm at the Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre, as she fended off a challenge from compatriot and reigning world champion Han Jiayu to claim the individual title in an Asiad record of 252.7.

Han finished second with 251.3 points, while India’s Ramita Jindal was third (230.1).

Winning in her home town was a special moment for the Zhejiang native, who told the Asian Games Network: “I feel that I have overcome myself today. To be honest, my overall performance before the Asian Games was quite up and down. I was relaxed and let myself do my best. I finished well.

“I am very happy. I actually didn’t think about winning this gold medal before the competition. I am also very honoured to win the gold medal in my hometown.”

At the age of 10, Huang was talent spotted by the Huangyan District Youth Sports School. After just eight months of training, the young starlet was on a par with some of the national shooters.

Having nerves of steel is a key asset and despite only 17, Huang has proven that she has what it takes to be among the best in the world.

On the final, she said: “I was firm with myself. The announcement was in English and I didn’t know how the competition was going. So, I could focus on the process of the competition – I shot well and showed my strength.”

While China celebrated their first golds in shooting on Sunday, Singapore’s trio of Martina Veloso, Eunice Leow and Fernel Tan narrowly missed out on a medal in the women’s 10m air rifle team event after finishing just 3.1 points behind bronze medallists Mongolia.

They eventually finished fourth with a score of 1,876.9. Tan was Singapore’s top performer, shooting 628.8 to place 10th in the individual rankings, just 0.1 point short of her personal best.

China’s trio of Huang, Han and Wang Zhilin won the event with 1,896.6 points and India (1,886) claimed the silver.

While there was no podium finish for the Singaporeans, they were proud of their performance as two of them – Tan and Leow – were making their Asian Games debuts.

Tan said: “I never expected to shoot a score close to my personal best. It’s my first Games so I didn’t want to put too much pressure and expectations on myself. This is the team’s first time together so I’m very happy that we were able to do that (finish fourth at the Asian Games).”

Veloso added: “Fourth place was something I wasn’t expecting at all because we’re up against countries like China and Korea, so for us to be able to be top four in Asia is something I’m relatively pleased with.”

The lead-up to the event was less than ideal for the 23-year-old, who has been battling an infection over the past few days which caused a fever, body aches, chills and headaches. It was a setback for Veloso, who had been performing well in training and had an encouraging outing at the 2023 world championships, where she made the final of the 10m air rifle.

But she is looking forward to her next event, the 50m three positions, on Wednesday. She said: “For this event, I haven’t been performing that well this season so I hope to pull through with my process goals because we have a very strong competition here in China.

“The goal will be to make the final but I have to focus on my recovery as well and be mentally focused for the next day.”