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A TEAR ran down Jasmine Ser's face when she missed out on a team medal on Saturday morning.
The shooter was still crying in the afternoon - only this time, in ecstacy.
For the 17-year-old had turned in an Olympic-class performance in the women's 10-metre air rifle event to clinch the gold medal.
It boosted Singapore's tally in the South-east Asia Games to eight golds, all from shooting, even before the opening ceremony on Thursday.
'Our team didn't shoot well in the morning,' said Jasmine, who was teaming up with sister Adrienne, 20, and close friend Vanessa Yong, 19.
The trio, the 2006 Asian Games silver medallists behind China, were favourites for gold.
But it was not to be.
They finished fourth with a combined 1,158, just two points behind Vietnam on 1,160.
Gold and silver went to Thailand (1,169) and Malaysia (1,165).
The silver lining was that Jasmine was well-placed after the qualification shoot - just two points behind Thai leader Kusuma Tavisri's 393.
Adrienne and Vanessa, after failing to qualify for the eight-woman final, were busy psyching up their teammate for the final shoot.
'They told me to just go out there and whack,' said the Anderson Junior College student.
'I didn't want to disappoint them.'
She did not.
The steely teenager shrugged off the pressure, erasing the deficit halfway through the 10-shot final.
It came down to the last shot. Needing just 9.6 points out of a possible 10.9, she hit the bullseye for a 10.1.
'Her score of 103.1 in the final is of an Olympic standard,' said coach Zhang Manzhen.
During the 2004 Athens Olympics, European champion Katerina Kurkova of the Czech Republic carded the same score to win a silver medal.
Read the full story in The Sunday Times.
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