IT’S a sad start for Filipino shooter Eric Ang, who failed to overcome opening day jitters and had himself virtually out with one round remaining in the men’s trap event of the 29th Olymic Games shooting competition.
The 37-year-old Ang could only shot 65 of 75 birds after the first three rounds at the start of the competition at the Beijing Shooting Range, which has a capacity of 17,000 and designed to reflect the shape of a hunting bow.
In Archery, Mark Javier scored 654 for 35th place out of 64 athletes. Javier hit 27 10s and 10 Xs to finish 24 points off the lead.
“Masyado akong excited. Gigil na gigil ako,” said Ang at the outcome of his first Olympic stint as relayed to the media here through an e-mail.
He is currently in a tie with four others for 29th to 33rd places in a starting field of 35.
Ang, using a Beretta DT 10 shotgun which has been with him for the last three years, couldn’t do anything right in the first frame and shot just 19 birds out of a possible 25 to fall way down early in the battles.
Miracle
The businessman from Laoag City who earned a trip in the quadrennial Games through the wild card phase, recovered with a 24 in the second round, missing only the 23rd bird, before closing out with a 22 for a total score of 65 that tied him with China’s Li Yajun, American Bret Erickson, New Zealand’s Graeme Ede and France’s Stephane Clamens.
For him to make it to the six-man finals, Ang would need a perfect 25 in the fourth round set this morning and pray the next 30 shooters ahead of him in the standings faltered to make it to the championship round in the afternoon.
Philippine Shooting Association Art Macapagal, a younger half-brother of President Macapagal-Arroyo, who was watching Ang struggle with his shots in the first round, admitted the chances of the lone Filipino bet in shooting is as dim as the Beijing skyline.
“He has to be perfect tomorrow, meaning he has to shoot a 25 and the rest shoot poorly to make it,’’ said Macapagal, while admitting that this is not the right way to deal with the tough task at hand.
Wrong attitude
“That’s a wrong attitude because you should rely on yourself and not on others’ mistakes,’’ said the affable Macapagal.
In contrast, David Kostelecky of Czechoslovakia fired a perfect 25 in the final round after an earlier pair of 24s, to tie Italian veteran Giovanni Pellielo who stumbled to a 23 in the last frame after a perfect 25 in the first two.
Australia’s defending champion Michael Diamond was not far behind. With a 72 for a tie with four others, including Alexey Alipov, the same Russian who beat Ang in a shootoff for the last final slot in a top-level German tournament early this year.
Ang ,who has been in this sport since 1996 after a long stint in practical shooting, was doing well in the first round until he missed three straight birds in the final five birds.
“Maganda naman sana kaya lang sumabog ng nag-miss ako ng tatlong sunod-sunod sa last few birds ng first frame,” said Ang, who became the third Filipino to win an Olympic berth as a wild card after George Earnshaw in 1996 in Atlanta and Jethro Dionisio in the 2004 Athens Olympiad. (FCC)
