Shooters slow off the mark with one bronze

Singapore's shooting team misfired on their opening day of competition at the Hanoi SEA Games, with only a bronze in yesterday's 10m air rifle women's team event to show for their efforts.

They did not medal in the individual category, marking the first time the Republic did not finish on the podium in the event since the 2003 Games which were also in Vietnam; the event did not feature at the 2013 edition in Myanmar.

Adele Tan, 22, who was third at the 2019 Games in the Philippines and was ranked 21st out of 50 competitors at last year's Tokyo Olympics, did not advance to the top-eight final at the Hanoi National Sports Training Centre. She was 11th of 19 shooters.

Her sister Fernel, 20, and teammate Natanya Tan, 17 - both making their Games debut - progressed to the next round before finishing seventh (141.7) and fourth (202.9) respectively.

Their combined score of 1,863.8 in the qualifiers was enough to secure the team bronze. Thailand took the gold with 1,866.1 points, followed by Indonesia (1,864.4).

Adele said she was proud of her team's efforts, given that Fernel and Natanya were rookies at this level. She added: "We are glad to have won a medal (in the team event) but performance wise, we could have done better.

"Many countries (in this region) are getting better and this event is the most competitive discipline. For both of them to have made the final is something that should be applauded."

Natanya and Fernel's next event will be tomorrow's mixed 10m air rifle team competition.

Said Natanya: "We all fought hard today but there is more to improve. We will focus on doing our best for the mixed team event.

"One of the good things today was that I was able to focus on my technique but what I need to work on is my body stability and control."

The men's 25m rapid fire pistol duo of Lim Swee Hon and Hoong Shi Xiang also drew a blank, finishing 12th (555) and last (553) respectively among the 14 participants.

There are another 14 shooting events until Sunday with Singapore's top gun Martina Veloso, a two-time Commonwealth Games champion, set to feature in the women's 50m rifle three positions.

At the 2019 SEA Games, Singapore took home one silver and four bronze medals but failed to win a shooting gold for the first time since 1991.