Shooting trio come second at Jr c'ships

Singapore team clinch silver at the inaugural event ahead of heavyweights Germany, US

Singapore shooters (from left) Adele Tan, Ho Xiu Yi and Martina Lindsay Veloso celebrating their silver.
Singapore shooters (from left) Adele Tan, Ho Xiu Yi and Martina Lindsay Veloso celebrating their silver. PHOTO COURTESY OF SINGAPORE SHOOTING ASSOCIATION

The Singapore shooting team of Ho Xiu Yi, Adele Tan and Martina Lindsay Veloso clinched a silver medal on Monday at the inaugural International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Championships in Suhl, Germany.

The team came in second in the junior women's 10m air rifle competition with a combined score of 1,247.1 points, finishing behind winners China, which set a world junior record of 1262.1 points. Hosts Germany took the bronze with 1,244.7 points.

"It was an honour to be in the same team as my team-mates," said 17-year-old Xiu Yi.

"I was really delighted when we were able to improve on our bronze medal showing at the 2015 Junior World Cup, with an even better performance from each of us."

While none of the trio managed to reach the individual final - finishing outside the top-eight shooters - all three were placed in the top 20 for a strong overall showing.

Xiu Yi led the way, firing a score of 416.0 points to finish in 12th place out of 131 shooters, with Adele scoring 415.7 points (16th) and Martina carding 415.4 points (19th).

"It was a three-legged 'relay' and each of us competed in one of it," said Martina, 17, of their individual performances.

" We managed to be the top few in our respective legs.

"So adding up our results, we knew we had a shot at getting a team medal, although we didn't expect it as there were strong nations like Russia, France and the United States."

Russia finished fourth, while the US came in sixth. France concluded in 10th place.

Despite this being a first-time event, participating nations still sent out their brightest prospects in hope of claiming bragging rights.

"To be honest, I was quite nervous because it is a high-level competition," said Adele, 18.

"I managed to keep my cool and focus on what I should do with the assurance of my coach, (Lim) Chea Rong."

With the silver medal in the bag, the plucky shooters are confident that they can replicate their sterling performance in future tournaments.

Xiu Yi said: "I believe as we get more experienced in our sport, we will come back stronger every time with a better performance.

"Hopefully we can improve as a team in bigger-scale competitions."

Martina added: "I really hope to win medals in big competitions like this in the future.

"Team wise, I'm very sure we can do it again, not only at the junior stage, but also at senior competitions."

As of Monday, China leads the junior competition with seven golds, with Russia a distant second with two.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 28, 2017, with the headline Shooting trio come second at Jr c'ships. Subscribe