Thai medal hopes off the mark on a dismal day
WORLD No 1 Sutiya Jiewchaloemmit fell victim to her own demons as she fired a dismal 68 points and failed to reach the women’s skeet final of the Olympic Games on Friday (yesterday Bangkok). The two-time World
Cup champion shot 23.22 and 23 in the qualification stage which saw her finish 10th. Only the top six shooters advanced to the final round.
The 30-year-old dead-eye from Sakaew province admitted she was unable to cope with the mounting pressure at the Olympics despite winning the gold here in the World Cup earlier this year. She was regarded as one of Thailand’s medal prospects in Rio. “I lost a bit of concentration and could not bring my concentration back. Under this circumstance and the pressure, I was unable to perform at the level I would have wanted to,” said Sutiya.
“I thought I was already prepared for this but I don’t think I’m mentally tough enough for this level of tournament. Actually I have beaten all these competitors before but I just could not handle this huge pressure This is something I have to practice more.”
The national shooter said she was infuriated with herself and would go back to work more on her mental side for the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
“I was mad at myself why I couldn’t do this. Actually it’s the same target, the same venue and the same competitors but I just couldn’t focus. This is a big lesson for me. I tried to come here with no expectation but I couldn’t help feeling it. I hope to develop better in the next Olympics,” said Sutiya who apologised to Thai fans and insisted she had given her best.
Meanwhile there was some surprise in the men’s air rifle prone when 27-year-old Attapon Uea-aree from Lampang became the first male shooter in the Thai history to reach the Olympic final after firing 625.3 points in the qualification. However, the 2015 Asian Championship winner was the first to be eliminated in the last eight after he scored just 80.8 point in the first series.
Meanwhile in judo, Thailand’s Kunathip Yea-on went down to Romanian Daniel Natea in the Olympic men’s judo 100-plus kg first round.
In badminton, Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai went down to Misaki Matsutomo and Sayaka Takahashi 21-15 21-15 in the women’s doubles. Bodin Isara and Savitree Amitrapai lost to Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia 21-11 21-13 in the mixed doubles.
