[Photo: India's Ayonika Paul (left) lost her lead at yesterday's air-rifle final to China's Zhong Chunchan because she was distracted, she claims.]

By DAWN TAY

IN SHOOTING, everything can change with a single shot. Just ask India's Ayonika Paul.

Just three shots away from an Asian Youth Games gold at the girls' 10m airrifle final yesterday, the 16-year-old inexplicably pulled her rifle away, distracted.

Her subsequent shot was rushed and when the scoreboard flashed her score, it drew gasps from the watching crowd.

The lead that she had tenaciously clung on to since the preliminary rounds had vanished - into the hands of her Chinese and Korean rivals.

In a tense 10-shot final that saw the lead change hands down to the last shot, China's Zhong Chunchan eventually emerged victorious (499.5 points), followed by South Korea's Go Dowon (498.6) and Hessah Alzayed from Kuwait (497.8).

Paul finished fourth (497.6), a far cry from her gold-medal expectations.

When asked about that pivotal shot, a teary Paul told my paper: "I was disturbed by some people cheering."

However, her coach, Ravi Kant, criticised the jury for not being "up to the mark", saying that they had stopped Paul and other shooters from aiming in between shots.

He also claimed that her weapon was not properly zeroed, affecting her performance. Juror Danilo Gamboa explained that aiming is usually done when a shooter is commanded to start shooting. Whether aiming is allowed between shots depends on the jury's judgment.

The former national shooter for the Philippines added: "If being corrected disturbs you, then that's a lacking in your training."

Unfortunately, nerves also got the better of Singapore shooters Jodie Tan and Goh Jia Yi.

Jia Yi failed to qualify for the finals after she was edged out by just 0.1 point in a thrilling five-shot shootout with Thailand's Donyapan Thiranuwattanakul.

And while a bronze medal was within Jodie's reach at one stage in the final, she eventually finished fifth (496.3).

She said: "I was nervous. After shooting a few 10s, it's quite hard to stay calm.

"(But) I'm happy with my performance."

dawnt@sph.com.sg

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