SINGAPORE - Singapore's women's shooters have won the first shooting gold at the 28th SEA Games, clinching the women's 10m air rifle team gold on Saturday morning.
Jasmine Ser, Tessa Neo and Martina Lindsay Veloso beat rivals Malaysia with a convincing total score of 1233.9 points in the event. The silver medallists had scored 1222.9 while Thailand took bronze with 1219.2 points.
In the afternoon's nail-biting final, Singapore's Tessa Neo, 17, took the individual gold medal with a score of 207.0 points. She beat top qualifier Jasmine Ser, 24, who took silver with 204.9 points.
Although the Republic's final shooter, Martina Lindsay Veloso, came in third (184.0) in the final, the bronze medal was awarded to Malaysia's Nur Ayuni Abdul Halim (160.7) as countries may only win a maximum of two individual medals per event.
The team's dominance, however, was evident to the 250 supporters at the indoor shooting range, with Martina 2.8 points clear of her Malaysian opponent when going into the bronze medal shoot-off.
"I'm very, very excited because it's my first Games, and my first Games gold," said Tessa, who thanked her coach and family for supporting her and pushing her to train. "Can I just say that it's the best final ever?"
In the men's 10m air rifle, Singapore's only representative Royce Chan finished fifth with a total of 138.9 points.
Thailand enjoyed a one-two finish with shooters Ponsatong Panyatong (207.9) and Napis Tortungpanich (206.8), leaving Jayson Valdez of the Philippines to take bronze (181.0).
The Singapore team finished fourth in the team event earlier in the morning.
