Singapore’s Martina Veloso makes winning comeback at South-east Asian Shooting Championships

SINGAPORE – After missing out on qualifying for the Paris Olympics last May, Singapore shooter Martina Veloso decided to take a break from the sport to re-energise and focus on her studies.

That break eventually stretched for seven months, as Veloso shared that she felt a little “burnt out”.

“It’s probably one of the longest breaks I’ve had in my career,” said Veloso, who recently graduated from the Singapore University of Social Sciences.

“I didn’t make the Olympic Games, which I was gunning for last cycle. So after that, there weren’t a lot of major competitions, because we were all preparing for the Games.”

Refreshed and recharged after the hiatus, Veloso returned to the competition range this week at the South-east Asian Shooting Championships (Seasa) in Taoyuan, Taiwan.

The sharpshooter, 25, claimed two golds in the women’s 50m rifle three positions and women’s 10m air rifle team.

They were her first golds since 2022, when she won the 50m air rifle three positions at the International Shooting Sport Federation Grand Prix in Jakarta.

Said Veloso, who is aiming for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics: “This success does taste a little bit sweet, in a way. I’ve had a lot of work done in the last seven months, especially mentally, emotionally and physically.

“I had a lot of change internally within the team, the dynamics and how I would like to move forward in my career. A lot of things have changed (but) the goal is still the same, there are certain things that just have to be different when you progress as an elite athlete.”

Her teammates also reaped golds at the championships, with Irwan Abdul Rahman winning the men’s 10m air rifle, while Veloso combined with Gan Xin Chen and Ho Xiu Yi for the women’s 10m air rifle team title.

Like Veloso, Ho was also returning from a long break – she had not competed in an overseas competition for nearly a year.

The 24-year-old dropped out of the Sports Excellence Scholarship in 2024 owing to poor results and decided to focus on her studies. She is pursuing a degree in politics, law and economics at the Singapore Management University.

She said: “I’m happy with how it turned out. Of course everybody wants to win gold...

“So after one year of not really competing overseas and still being able to perform at least in the South-east Asian region was a pleasant outcome for me.”

For debutante Gan, the newest member of the women’s air rifle trio, the team gold was a first.

The 21-year-old said: “I didn’t enter this competition thinking about winning. To me, it’s just like a competition for me to check my progress, to see how I can improve and better prepare for the next competition.

“I used to think that shooting was a very individual sport. But this time round, the three of us really bonded together, and that really helped.

“I don’t really have as much international experience and I’m very appreciative of their generosity outside of the range. And it definitely helped, for me to approach (the competition) with a more positive mindset.”

Irwan was also delighted to kick off the 2025 season on a high, after bettering his own personal best of 583 points with 585 in qualifying en route to the title.

“It’s been quite a while since I’ve been on the podium (for an individual event),” said Irwan, who last claimed a solo bronze at the 2019 SEA Games.

“So to get this achievement out of the competition, kind of shows me that I’m on the right path, especially with our current objective, the SEA Games at the end of the year.

“Standards for South-east Asia have certainly risen since 2019 for sure, the counterparts that we are shooting with, especially the Indonesians; one of them is also an Olympian.”

The shooters’ next major assignment will be the Asian Rifle/Pistol Cup in Bangkok from Feb 9 to 22 as they ramp up their preparations for the SEA Games in December.

Irwan added: “I have some unfinished business with the SEA Games, where I’ve won a silver and a bronze, but I’ve yet to win a gold.”