ALIA Sazana Azhari retained the women’s 25m pistol gold medal and Johnathan Wong Guanjie delivered silver in the men’s 50m pistol at the National Shooting Range in Subang on Tuesday (22 Aug).
Buoyed by the surprise presence of her mother Saydah Salleh and siblings who travelled from Terengganu, the 24-year-old Alia scored 31 points to win the gold.
Singaporeans Teh Xiu Hong and Nicole Tan Ling Chiao took the silver and bronze with scores of 28 and 23 points respectively.
In the 50m pistol, Thailand’s Natphanlert Auapinyakul set a new Games record of 225.2 points for the gold while Kyaw Swar Win of Myanmar took the bronze with a 205.2 score.
However, the Kuala Lumpur 2017 SEA Games have been a disappointment for Rio Olympics gold medallist and defending champion Hoang Xuan Vinh. The Vietnamese was eliminated in the second round after posting 104.6 points and finished last in the eight-field competition.
Muhd Ezuan Nasir Khan, another Malaysian entry in the 10m air rifle, scored 118.7 points and finished at the bottom of ladder.
The event was won by Indonesian Muhd Naufal Mahardika in a new Games record of 245.4 points while Singaporean Mohamad Irwan Abdul Rahman bagged silver (241.8 points) and Tortungpanich of Thailand won the bronze (222.2 points).
Malaysian team head coach, Mohd Sabki Mohd Din, was pleased with results and confident of an improved performance from his shooterstomorrow.
“On Monday we won one gold and today another. I hope more will gold will  come tomorrow,” said Mohd Sabki.
Four gold medals are up for grabs on Wednesday (Aug 23) in the women’s 10m air rifle, men’s skeet, men’s 50m rifle prone and men’s 25m rapid fire pistol.
