KUALA LUMPUR: Gan Chen Jie won the women's 50m rifle prone silver in the Asian Shooting Championships in Jakarta yesterday, but unfortunately it's not an Olympic event.
The 19-year-old from Negri Sembilan amassed 619.6 points to finish behind gold medallist Arina Altukhova of Kazakhstan (626.8). Another Kazakh, Alexandra Le, won bronze (618.4).
Veteran national shooter Nur Suryani Taibi finished sixth with 616.0 points.
National Shooting Association of Malaysia secretary Jasni Shaari said they are proud of Chen Jie. "It was her first Asian Championships. For a teenager who joined the national squad a year ago, she did well to win silver.
"This augurs well for her shooting career but it's unfortunate that the prone event is not an Olympic event."
Eight Malaysian shooters competed in Jakarta. They were Deputy Sports Commissioner Hasli Izwan Amir Hasan, Alia Sazana Azahari, Nurul Syasya Nadiah Ariffin, Dina Batrisya Adi Azhar, Bibiana Ng Pei Chin and Joseline Cheah Lee Yean. None of them qualified for the Paris Olympics. To date only pistol shooter Johnathan Wong has qualified.
Jasni said there is one more Olympic Qualifier in Rio de Janeiro (in April), but he doubts that the National Sports Council will send any shooters.
"It's not only very far to travel to Rio but the shooters also need to get
acclimatised to the conditions there.
"However, Johnathan will compete in the World Cup in Azerbaijan (in May) in preparation for the Olympics."