Silver for Ong Junhong at SEA Shooting Championships

SINGAPORE – National shooter Ong Junhong has won a silver in the men’s 50m rifle prone at the 38th South-east Asia Shooting Championships after a thrilling showdown with Malaysia’s Shahril Muhamad Sahak at the National Shooting Centre today (Dec 11).

Trailing Ong by 0.3 points after the 18th shot, the Malaysian shooter dug deep in the final two-shot shoot-off, firing 20.8 against the Singaporean’s 20.4 (206.4-total) to score a total of 206.5 and claim gold by a whisker. Ong had to settle for silver, while Htaik Kaung of Myanmar was awarded the bronze.

The trio of Ong, Lim Zhong Xian and Cheng Mao Xin also claimed bronze in the team event with a combined score of 1,817.9, with Myanmar (1,837.9) and Malaysia (1,836.8) winning the gold and silver respectively.

While pistol shooter Poh Lip Meng had won Team Singapore’s first SEASA gold medal in the men’s 50m pistol on Tuesday, the 45-year-old struggled to find his form in the 10m air pistol, as a qualification score of 564 saw him missing out on the final after finishing 13th out of 29 shooters. Malaysia’s Johnathan Wong won the gold in the individual final, while Myanmar’s Naung Ye Tun and Hoang Xuan Vinh claimed the silver and bronze. The Singaporean team of Poh, Nigel Lim and Gai Bin were eventually placed fourth in the team event, behind Vietnam, Taiwan and Myanmar who finished in the top three.

Junior shooter Wong Huan Xuan also won a bronze in the men’s junior 10m air pistol, before the trio of Wong, Paul Ang and Ray Ang added a silver in the team event. Competing in the Singapore Invitational Shooting Championship – which is being held concurrently with SEASA – Poh Yu Hao also finished third in the men’s 10m air pistol.

Over 450 shooters from 19 foreign and local national shooting associations and clubs are competing in both championships (Dec 8 - 17) held at the National Shooting Centre and SAFRA Yishun.