Suryani is Malaysia’s first woman shooter to qualify for the Olympics

PETALING JAYA: Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi blasted her way into the history books with a superb performance at the Asian Shooting Championships in Doha on Saturday.

After capping a wonderful end to the season with a double gold triumph at the Indonesia SEA Games last year, the 29-year-old continued with her fiery form to achieve her dream to become the first Malaysian woman rifle shooter to compete in the Olympics.

Suryani chalked scores of 99-99-100-99 in the preliminary round for a total of 397 points to reach the women’s 10m air rifle final as the fourth best qualifier.

It was the first time Suryani had made the final of the event at the Asian meet, which is held every four years.
Suryani then only just missed out on a podium finish after scoring 102.7 in the final as her total of 499.7 points saw her tied for fourth with Iran’s Ahmadi Elaheh — just 0.7 of a point short of third place.

China’s world champion Yi Siling took gold on 502.2, ahead of Kuwait’s Arzouqi Maryam (500.6) and team-mate Du Li, a two-time Olympic gold medallist on 500.4.

But that did not really matter as Suryani secured one of the last two Olympic quota spots up for grabs in the Asian meet.

Suryani and the Kuwaiti were handed the berths as China and Iran had already secured the maximum two spots for the Olympics at the World Cup series last year. Two other Malaysians — Nur Ayuni Farhana Halim and Muslifah Zulkifli — finished 16th (394) and 27th (392) in the field of 53 shooters.

Suryani, in a telephone interview from Doha, said she was relieved to keep her part of the bargain as one of the handful of successful athletes from the “Road to London” programme.

“I was disappointed to miss the mark at the World Cup series last year and that really made me more determined to get into the Olympics,” she said.

“I knew I had a good chance once I managed into get to the final. This was the last shot to qualify on merit and I am happy to be the first Malaysian shooter to make it to the London Olympics.

“I hope more can qualify from here although we are competing against world class shooters,” said Suryani, who was also the first Malaysian woman shooter to win an Asian Games medal when she took the bronze in the same discipline at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.

Indonesia SEA Games silver medallist Mohd Hadafi Jaafar was placed 28th in the men’s 10m air rifle with 584 points.

In the men’s double trap, Malaysian youngster Benjamin Khor fared better than his more experienced dad, Edward. Benjamin was placed 16th with his effort of 131 while Edward finished four rungs below on 127.
Shooting is the latest to join the confirmed cast for the Olympics apart from badminton, diving and archery.


THE STAR