Sutiya shoots her way to two bronze medals
World No 6 Sutiya Jiewchaloemmit won an individual bronze medal in the women's skeet and helped Thailand win a team bronze at the Gyeonggido Shooting Range yesterday.
The Kingdom’s ace shooter fired 69 while Nutchaya Sut Arporn and Isarapa Imprasertsuk shot 65 and 64 respectively for a total of 198 points, which earned them back-to-back bonze medals in the Asian Games’ women’s skeet team. The same squad also settled for third in Guangzhou four years ago.
China set a Games record of 208 to win the gold medal while hosts South Korea were two points behind in second place.
Suttiya, who finished fifth in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, also booked a spot in the individual final where she hit 13 targets and moved ahead into a bronze medal contest against Taiwan’s Lo Pei Yu, who shattered 11 targets. The Thai missed only one shot and beat the Taiwanese 14-10 to take the bronze.
South Korea’s Kim Minji won the gold medal following a 4-3 shoot-off victory over China’s Zhang Heng.
“I was really exhausted today. I was not physically ready as I just came from the World Cup in Spain. I still could not adjust to the weather and did not feel confident with some shots. I just hung in there and I am satisfied with the two bronzes,” Suttiya, 27, said from Sakaeo province.
The Asian Games was not Suttiya’s No.1 priority. Her main aim is to book a berth at the 2016 Rio Oympics.
“I’ve been trying to qualify for the 2016 Olympics but I didn’t perform well in any qualifying events this year. So I have to wait for the next qualifying event in March and hope to achieve it that time,” she said.
The clay shooting squad has so far picked up three bronzes in Incheon. The first was won by Chattaya Kitcharoen in the women’s trap individual.
However it was a different story for the other members of Thailand’s shooting delegation, with no other athlete producing a medal performance.
