Nur Ayuni guns down gold in international junior meet

Golden bullet: Nur Ayuni Farhana stunned a strong field to bag the gold in the 10m air rifle event at the International Shooting Championships in Suhl, Germany, on Sunday.
PETALING JAYA: Teenager Nur Ayuni Farhana has done the country proud by bagging the gold in the 10m air rifle event at the International Junior Shooting Championships, which concluded in the German city of Suhl yesterday.
Nur Ayuni stunned the strong field when she finished on top after the qualifying round with an impressive total of 397 – just three shots off the perfect score.
The 18-year-old fired 99, 99, 99 and 100 to set a new national junior record.
In the final, Nur Ayuni maintained her composure to complete a big breakthrough for Malaysia. Her 103.2 effort in the final round was enough for her to keep her advantage and she finished with 500.2 points.
India’s Paul Ayonika took the silver with 497.8 and Japan’s Yuki Hoshino the bronze with 497.4.
Nur Ayuni’s impressive performance, however, was not enough for Malaysia to bag a medal in the team event as her team-mates Nur Farah Afigah and Siti Nur Izzati Mohd Sabki were only placed 65th (382) and 76th (379) respectively.
Their combined total of 1,158 was only good for the fourth overall spot in the team event.
Nur Ayuni also came close to bagging a second medal in the 50m rifle prone competition but her 589 total was just a point short of bronze medallist Erika Bengtsson of Sweden.
Another Swede, Elin Karlsson, took the gold with 592 points ahead of Germany’s Fabienne Plaum, who managed 590.
As the only Malaysian to stand on the podium after four days of competition, the Pahang-born Nur Ayuni has shown that she has what it takes to become a top rifle shooter in the future.
Nur Ayuni had also bagged two gold medals for Malaysia in the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney in January.
Team manager Mohd Razib Yahya said the meet was of a high standard as all the junior shooters from the top European countries took part. India, Japan and Singapore also sent their junior shooters.
“We also came close to winning medals when we finished fourth in three team events (boys’ and girls’ 50m rifle prone and the girls’ 10m air pistol).
“Nur Ayuni was the outstanding performer as she was the only Malaysian who managed to qualify for the top eight final,” he said.
The 10-member shooting squad will not be returning home yet as they will head for Munich for a nine-day training camp.
The shooters have also been entered for the Munich-leg of the ISSF World Cup from May 12-21.
BOYS
10m air rifle individual: 21. Mohd Badrin Muhd 586, 42. Muhd Zubair Muhd 579, 60. Zakaria Zalzi 567.
10m air rifle team: 11. Malaysia 1732.
50m rifle prone individual: 12. Muhd Zubair Muhd 585, 23. Mohd Badrin Muhd 580, 26. Zakaria Zalzi 577.
50m rifle prone team: 4. Malaysia 1742.
50m rifle three-position individual: 32. Muhd Zubair Muhd 1117, 38. Mohd Badrin Muhd 1092, 39. Zakaria Zalzi 1092.
50m rifle three-position team: 10. Malaysia 3301.
10m air pistol individual: 24. Jonathan Wong 561.
GIRLS
10m air rifle individual: 1. Nur Ayuni Farhana 397, 65. Nur Farah Afigah 382, 76. Siti Nur Izzati Mohd Sabki 379.
10m air rifle team: 9. Malaysia 1158.
50m rifle prone individual: 4. Nur Ayuni Farhana 589, 25. Nur Farah Afigah 579, 26. Siti Nur Izzati Mohd Sabki 579.
50m rifle prone team: 4. Malaysia 1747.
50m rifle three-position individual: 21. Nur Farah Afigah 563, 25. Nur Ayuni Farhana 562, 43. Siti Nur Izzati Mohd Sabki 554.
50m rifle three-position team: 7. Malaysia 1679.
25m sport pistol individual: 12. Noorerffani Malick 552, 21. Wahidah Ismail 544, 39. Noor Izzati Jasni 1527.
25m sport pistol team: 6. Malaysia 1623.
10m air pistol individual: 12. Wahidah Ismail 367, 19. Noorerffani Malick 362, 27. Noor Izzati Jasni 358.
10m air pistol team: 4. Malaysia 1087