SINGAPORE – Shean Law was left in awe when he found out that the opponent he lost to at the National School Games A Division boys’ 10m air pistol final on April 19 was injured.
Hwa Chong Institution’s (HCI) Goh Zheng Yuan, 17, had fractured two toes and dislocated his left foot during a muay thai session at the end of March, just a week before the shooting qualifiers. But he still managed to overcome the injuries to clinch gold with 229.4 points at Safra Yishun shooting range.
Shean, who scored 225.7 points, said: “It really took a lot of effort to even try to come close to beating him at the start, and I guess I lost the mental battle and caved in first.”
After being told of his opponent’s ailments, Shean said with a tone of admiration: “Bro is exceptional, how do you have a leg injury and still manage to come first? That’s a skill issue on my part. It’s not even a lack of preparation, I prepared sufficiently and tried decently hard this year. He’s just better.”
Zheng Yuan felt his injury had affected him only at the beginning, before he slowly got used to it.
He said: “In terms of stance, it did initially affect me because apart from the fractures, it was slightly dislocated. It affected my training a lot. But afterwards, during the qualifications (it got better because) I got used to it.”
Shean’s National Junior College (NJC) teammate Loganathan Krithik came in third with 212.9 points.
HCI coach Zhang Zuoqiang was pleased with Zheng Yuan’s performance despite his injury, saying: “He is a very focused shooter with a very solid character. He had injured himself before the competition and when I found out about it, I was very upset… But the doctors said that he could remove his cast in two weeks, so that was a relief.”
It all went down to the wire in the boys’ 10m air rifle final, as Anderson Serangoon Junior College’s Lee Jin Yew and Singapore Sports School’s (SSP) David Loo were tied on 243.3 points, and had to battle it out in a shoot-off for gold.
It was David who prevailed, his 9.8 trumping Jin Yew’s 8.5, while HCI’s Irvin Yeoh clinched bronze with 231.6 points.
Said David: “A shoot-off is a battle of nerves. He did a great job, but I managed to keep my cool.”
Jin Yew, who qualified in first place and had led the final from the start, was happy with his results despite losing out on gold, adding: “Everything and anything happened in the final. I’m just happy to be here, it might be a pity that I lost out but it’s okay.”
Meanwhile, in the girls’ 10m air rifle final, NJC’s Loveley Ng claimed gold with 247.2, beating SSP’s Soh Yi Wei (246.4) and Raffles Institution’s Fiona Ting (235.4).
In the girls’ 10m air pistol final, NJC’s Arshia Vijesh won with 231.1 points, over Anderson Serangoon’s Lim Wei Xin (229.2) and Dunman High School’s Kaedee Cheong (216.1).
