SINGAPORE - A sensational double was recorded by the Veloso siblings at the Singapore Cup on Sunday (Sept 26).
First, Martina broke the national women's 50m rifle three positions record, scoring 1,185 points at the local monthly meet to beat her previous mark of 1,177.
Minutes later, her younger brother Marat scored 1,166 in the men's event, rewriting his own national record of 1,159 which he had achieved at the Singapore Shooting Association's second SEA Games selection shoot in July.
Martina, 21, said: "Our mum is very happy and she was in disbelief when we texted her the news. We had a nice dinner in the evening to celebrate.
"I think it's pretty cool that we're doing the same event because it means we can push each other constantly."
Marat, 18, agreed, noting that while "it meant a lot (to him) that we broke the national record on the same day", he was also driven by Martina's performance.
"I wanted to beat her previous record of 1,177 but she increased the record by a lot so I was a bit defeated by that but it makes me more motivated to beat her record," he said.
"I look up to her. She pushes me to do better and I can approach her if I have doubts. It's great to have a sister who's good and who has achieved quite a lot and I want to be like her."
Martina credited her relaxed approach that day for her success. She said focusing on replicating what she had been doing in training and not thinking about the outcome were major factors in helping her stay calm.
By not focusing on her score and treating the competition as a regular training session, she managed to produce her best result in the event, surpassing her previous national mark of 1,177 set at the ISSF World Cup in Munich in 2018.
The 1,185 points also equalled the world record held by Norway's Jenny Stene, but the Singaporean's score will not be ratified as the world's best as it was not set in an International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF)-sanctioned event.
She told The Straits Times: "I've been hitting a lot of 1,180s in training but I haven't been able to do the same in competitions so this was a nice and unexpected time to do it.
"In training, we haven't been focusing too much on the scores because there are no major competitions so it's a nice motivation for me. To know I'm able to make this score locally gives me a confidence boost and shows me that I do have what it takes to do this again and the goal is to eventually repeat this at major international competitions."
While happy with the score, she will only consider it a big achievement if she replicates it in an international meet.
The first-year communications undergraduate at the Singapore University of Social Sciences explained: "The pressure (in overseas competitions) is so much more. It's nice to break the national record locally but for me, I always look at the bigger picture so just because I shot this doesn't mean I'm that big. I think it's just a small stepping stone on my way to bigger competitions."
Marat, 18, was happy as the record was evidence that he has continued to improve as he had started training in the event only in February.
The second-year advanced and digital manufacturing student at Nanyang Polytechnic said: "I've been improving quite a lot since then. I shouldn't set a limit to myself because I'm relatively new and I know I can improve even more.
