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Shooter Eric Ang oozing with confidence |
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Source : Staff
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Monday, 04 August 2008 16:00 |
 IT’S never too late for 37-year-old Eric Ang, the Philippines’ lone bet in the shooting competition of the Beijing Olympics.
From a first-time Olympian in Athens in 2004 to becoming the oldest participant among the Filipino athletes in the Beijing Games, Ang believes he has what it takes to compete against the world’s best.
“This is a tall order, really,” said Ang. “But my confidence is oozing now after my recent performance in Germany.”
Had it happened four years ago, Ang would get a shot of an Olympic gold medal or a silver medal at least.
Ang established an RP record of 121 birds in the recent World Cup in Suhl, Germany, to finish in a tie for sixth place with Athens Olympics gold medalist Alexey Alipov of Russia. His record was two points away from the score of Australian world champion Michael Diamond.
But he emerged as the best Asian performer.
The pint-sized Ang has been in clay shooting since 1996 after a seven-year stint in practical shooting. But his best performance came in the Southeast Asian Shooting Championships in Malaysia, where he won the individual gold in trap shooting and shared the team gold.
The veteran shooter, who earned his Olympic slot in 2005 by carding 116 in the Bangkok qualifying, trains at least 25 hours weekly. Shooting, jogging and swimming are included in his training. He works alternately in Laoag and Manila and spends four hours of practice in a shooting range.
A silver medalist in last year’s Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, Ang believes he has prepared enough for the coming Olympics.
“I’m prepared to do my best in Beijing,” said Ang. “Basta ‘di ako magkamali, malaki ang chance ko. Sobra ang suporta sa akin ni [shooting president] Art Macapagal at ng PSC. Dapat talagang mag-perform ako. I know that winning a medal is a tall order, but my confidence has been tremendously boosted by my recent performance in Germany.”
He said his World Cup result in Germany, where he wound up seventh after narrowly losing to the Russian in the shoot-off for a finals slot, has truly inspired him to work harder and become more determined to fulfill every athlete’s dream of landing an Olympic medal.
“Kahit ako nagulat sa performance ko. First time kong tumira ng ganu’n kataas,” he said.
From Germany, Ang also joined the World Cup in Serbia where he finished 19th overall.
Ang failed to meet the Olympic qualifying standard by a mere point to Marian Kovacocy of Slovenia in the Kuwait Championships last year, but was lucky to have been given the wildcard berth.
Ang and archer Mark Javier were among the first batch to leave Thursday for Beijing becoming the first Filipino athletes to check in at the Athletes’ Village, less than six days before the start of the Olympics.
The veteran shooter will compete in the men’s qualification at 9 a.m. on Aug. 9 at the Beijing shooting range.
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