High and low for Joseline in shooting meet

Joseline Cheah qualifies for the Commonwealth Games after shooting 382 points in the 10m air pistol event at the Asian Shooting Championships on Monday in Kuwait. - Filepic

PETALING JAYA: It was a day of mixed emotions for national shooter Joseline Cheah at the Asian Championships in Kuwait.

She shot a four-round total of 382 points in the 10m air pistol event to qualify for the top eight final and also beat the Glasgow Commonwealth Games qualifying mark of 376.

However, in the final of the event, she was the first to be eliminated after shooting 74.90, winning her the eighth place.

India’s Heena Sidhu went into the final as the top qualifier and maintained her position to take the gold with a score of 200.3 against Wu Chia-ying of Taiwan, who settled for silver with 198.3.

Oman’s Wadha Al Balushi, who scraped into the final in eighth place, took the bronze with 177.3.
Joseline, an Armed Forces shooter, is the current national record holder for air pistol with 388 points.
She made the cut for the Commonwealth Games’ 25m sport pistol event at the Selangor Shooting Championship in January.

In the Commonwealth Games in 2006, Joceline won the silver medal with Bibiana Ng in the women’s 10m pistol pairs.

Meanwhile, in the 10m air pistol event in Kuwait, Abdul Malick Nurerffani and Wahida Ismail finished 13th (373) and 15th (369) respectively.

London Olympian shooter Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi failed in her bid to reach the final in her pet event – the 10m air rifle.

Suryani, who made worldwide headlines when she competed at the Olympics two years ago while pregnant, missed out on the top eight final after placing 13th (411.4 points).

She was the best Malaysian finisher, with Nur Ayuni Farhana Halim emerging 24th (407.8) while Muslifah Zulkifli was 26th (407.2).

Jonathan Wong was placed 21st in the 10m air pistol event (567 points) while Myanmar SEA Games gold medallist Eddy Chew only managed 25th placing (564 points).




by Lim Teik Huat  - The Star