SINGAPORE — The SAFRA Yishun indoor air weapons range was filled with faces steeped in intense concentration yesterday but, in the end, it was three Raffles Institution (RI) students who held their nerve best to become Singapore’s top under-14 schoolboys in the 10m air pistol.

The trio of Tan Xue Liang, Sean Anthony Masci and Cleve Huang took the event’s “C” Division title at the National Inter-School Shooting Championship when they shot a combined total of 1,603 points, edging out defending champions Hwa Chong Institution (HCI), which finished second with 1,591 points, while the Singapore Sports School (SSP) were third with 1,581 points.

“We just wanted to try our best. It was really all about keeping calm and we weren’t thinking much about anything,” said Xue Liang, 14.

“But we also have to give to credit our (10m air pistol) coach (Qian Gang), who motivated us and gave us many tips prior to the competition.”

While happy with the result, head coach Li Jie — who oversees the entire RI shooting team — instilled a belief within the team that results are not everything.

“Whether we win or not isn’t important,” he said. “What is more important is to take defeat on the chin, stand up and develop a never-say-die attitude.”

In turn, RI’s never-say-die attitude prevented the SSP from pulling off a clean sweep of all the air weapons titles at “C” Div. The latter had won the “C” Boys and “C” Girls 10m air rifle team titles, in addition to being crowned “C” Girls 10m air pistol champions.

Nevertheless, SSP Director of Sports Irwin Seet was heartened by his students’ capture of three national titles despite its shooting academy only being established early last year.

“I think we can be very proud of what the shooters have achieved for such a fledging young academy,” he said. “My hope is to see them go on to represent Singapore one day.”