KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's first outing at the prestigious Ostrava Cup, a shooting tournament for the blind and visually-impaired which ended yesterday in Czech Republic, saw national shooters achieve a strong performance.
Major Azhari Abdullah clinched bronze in the 60 shots prone discipline, while Assistant Superintendent (ASP) Amir Abdullah finished 10th in his event.
The international class competition is now in its fifth year and is organised by the Ostrava Police Sports Club.
Target shooting for the visually-impaired utilises standard shooting equipment with a special electronic audio aiming device fitted to the gun.
The aiming device detects the point of aim relative to the target and provides feedback to the shooter through differing sounds channelled to headphones.
With this device, a visually-impaired shooter, regardless of amount of sight, can achieve accuracy comparable to a fully-sighted shooter.
Azhari began shooting in 1996, and after losing his vision, continued his passion and turned to blind shooting in 2009. He was selected to represent Malaysia for the 3rd IBSA Open European Shooting Air Rifle Championships in Slovakia in 2011.
ASP Amir Abdullah, who began blind shooting in 2015, finished ninth at the IBSA Alpine World Cup held in Austria last year, which was his first tournament.
The Tun Hussein Onn National Eye Hospital (THONEH) sponsored the duo's trip to Ostrava, with the hospital’s financial assistance covering their attire, flight, accommodations, as well as bullets and a new customised aiming device.