SUBANG JAYA, Sept 18 — After bagging a gold medal at the 20th Malaysia Games (Sukma), national shooter V. Shaveena Mei is now ready to blaze her way to earning a ticket for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The 20-year-old Penang shooter said her triumph in the women’s 10 metres air rifle has fuelled her ambition to win a medal on the international stage, especially at the Olympic Games.
“Sure I have (dream of going to the Olympics), the target being the edition in Paris. I have a personal target towards that but I need a certain (amount of) time for that (qualification),” she told reporters at the Subang National Shooting Range here today.
“I need to collect quota overseas (participation at designated ISSF competitions) first, like competing in the World Cup, so I need to go under trial selection first. Only then can I go on to the World Cup and next to Paris.”
So far, only two national shooters have participated in the Olympic Games - Jonathan Wong in the 2016 edition in Rio de Janeiro and Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi in the 2012 London Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Indeed, the road to Paris is no walk in the park but for Shaveena, a student at Management and Science University in Selangor, that was how she strayed into the world of shooting as a nine-year-old.
“Nobody told me to try out shooting. I was walking in the Penang Botanical Garden, and I saw this game. Then I did some research on how to participate in this sport,” said Shaveena, who is making her last appearance in Sukma.
Shaveena today took gold with 243.7 points while silver went to Nur Izazi Rosli of the Federal Territories (243.5 points) and bronze to Nurul Athirah Huzaimi of Perak (219.2 points).
In the 10 metres air rifle team event, Negeri Sembilan emerged champions with a total of 1,842 points, folllowed by Perak (1,838 points) and Penang (1,831) in second and third places respectively.
In the women’s individual 25m sport pistol, Johor’s Mumtazah Shahidah Shamsuri eclipsed national athlete Nurul Syasya Nadiah Mohd Arifin to clinch gold.
The silver went to Khairunnabiha Baharin of Johor and bronze to Perak’s Nurul Izzah Ahmad Khairi.
Johor dominated the women’s team 25m sport pistol event by collecting a total of 1,662 points while Perak (1,641 points) took silver and Pahang (1,626), the bronze. — Bernama
