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Suryani a good bet to hit the target in US

PETALING JAYA: Confidence is soaring high on Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi to become the first Malaysian female rifle shooter to feature in the Olympics when she makes a third attempt to qualify for the London Games next year at the World Cup leg in Fort Benning, the United States, from May 12-25.

The fresh hope stems from her good showing in the previous leg in South Korea two weeks ago when she came close to making the top eight cut.
Fresh hopes: Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi came close to booking a spot for the London Olympics in South Korea two weeks ago.
 
She was joint eighth with seven other shooters on 396 in the 10m rifle event but lost out narrowly in a shootout to finish in 12th spot.

A place in the top-eight final would have given her a spot in the London Olympics.
It was certainly a better performance from Suryani compared to her outing at the first leg in Sydney last month.

The National Shooting Association of Malaysia (NSAM) secretary, Jasni Shaari, is excited over the prospect of Suryani justifying her place in the country’s 2012 Road to London programme.
“She has showed marked improvement over the last two Olympic qualifying tournaments. She came very close to booking a ticket in South Korea,” he said.

“I am confident that it will not be too long before she nicks it. I am looking forward to Suryani raising her game even higher in the World Cup to seal a place in the Olympics.”

There are three meets more for shooters to book spots in the Olympics. Besides the World Cup leg in the US, there is another in Munich in June and the Asian Championships in January.

Besides Suryani, top national men’s pistol shooter Hasli Izwan Amir Hasan is also on track to make a second appearance in the Olympics.

In the 25m air pistol event in South Korea, Hasli was placed 15th with a total score of 577.
“Hasli has been quite consistent this year and can do better to make the grade,” said Jasni.

There are three other shooters in the Road to London programme. And Jasni said that Bibiana Ng, Nur Ayuni Farhana Abdul Halim and Hafiz Adzha had some catching up to do if they harboured hopes to make the cut.
The shooters will begin centralised training in Langkawi today as part of their preparation for the World Cup meet in the US.



THE STAR

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