Shooting: Ser gunning for glory

Shooting: Ser gunning for glory

She missed out narrowly at making the finals of both the women's singles 50m rifle three-position and the 10m air rifle events at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.

Four years on, shooter Jasmine Ser is more optimistic of her chances making the top eight at the Incheon Asiad, which will take place from Sept 19 to Oct 4.

"I gained a bit of confidence after my three-week training stint in Colorado (in United States) in February, where I trained with Americans, Brazilians and a Japanese shooter," said the 23-year-old Singaporean, who will find out if she's selected for the Asiad this evening when the Singapore National Olympic Council selectors meet.

"I won a competition among these shooters over there for the 3P (three-positions), and did another personal best in the 10m event in a local shoot recently."

While the 10m event has always been her pet event, she saw greater improvement in the 3P during her training stint.

The National University of Singapore graduate said: "There aren't any 3P competitions in Singapore, so it was great sparring with the foreign shooters in the US, and their standards were quite high."

She will try to defend her 3P pairs and 10m singles Commonwealth Games titles - won in 2010 in New Delhi - this July in Glasgow, while attempting to better her silver medals in the 3P singles and 10m pairs.

Ser said: "My 3P has improved a lot since the last Commonwealth Games, but the rest of the shooters have done so, too.

"And there will be many new shooters who are good coming into this Games, so I will need to work harder.

"The Asian Games has more world-class shooters, especially in the air rifle events, so I am aiming to make the finals first."

"After that, it's anyone's game," added Ser, who was among the inaugural 64 athletes to receive the Sports Excellence Scholarship last year.

She will be aided by the recent change in the sport's rules - a shooter's qualifying score will no longer be carried over into the final and all finals will now feature eliminations, ending with duels between the two best athletes to decide the gold and silver medals.

Ahead of the two major Games, the rifle specialist will head to the Czech Republic for a training camp and competition next month, before competing in the Munich World Cup - her first for this year - in June.

Ser said: "I hope I will be able to keep this momentum going and keep getting into finals so that I will gain more confidence."

HONOUR ROLL

2010 COMMONWEALTH GAMES

l Gold: 10m air rifle singles, 50m rifle three-positions pairs

l Silver: 10m air rifle pairs, 50m rifle three-positions singles

2011 SOUTH-EAST ASIA GAMES

l Silver: 10m air rifle

sayheng@sph.com.sg

This article was published on April 4 in The New Paper.

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