Ser clinches silver in ISSF World Cup
National shooter shows no ring rust despite taking a long break after Rio Olympics
She took a break after the Rio Olympics in August last year, and competed only in local selection shoots up till last week.
But national shooter Jasmine Ser showed few signs of ring rust as she clinched the silver medal in the women's 50m rifle three-positions event at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in New Delhi, India yesterday.
The 26-year-old was second in the qualifiers earlier yesterday with 585 points, with Swiss Nina Christen topping the 31-strong field with 586.
Two-time Olympian Ser continued her good form in the final where the scores were reset, and led the pool of eight shooters after the prone component.
China's Zhang Yiwen, who was making her ISSF World Cup debut in India, then took over the lead in the standing position elimination series and held on for the win with 455.7 points.
Ser was second with 453.8, while Germay's Eva Roesken was third with 443.6.
Fellow Singapore shooter Martina Veloso finished 19th in the qualifiers with 572 points.
"It went pretty well for me today, except for some mistakes in kneeling and standing components," Ser told The New Paper in a phone interview yesterday.
"I took some pointers from the qualifiers, and started pretty well in the final.
"Heading into the standing component, I knew I was more or less there (among the medals) and I just had to hold on.
"Although I took a break after the Olympics, I have been involved in a lot of local selection shoots for the upcoming SEA (South-east Asia) Games.
"I was involved almost every week, so that was one reason I wasn't rusty in this tournament."
Other than Ser, 2016 Olympian Teo Shun Xie also clinched a bronze in the women's 10m air pistol event on Sunday.
Ser said she is feeling optimistic about her training towards the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur in August.
She finished ninth in her pet event at the 2015 SEA Games on home ground, and cited fatigue from heavy travelling as a reason then for her results.
"I hope I don't tire myself out; I had to cope with competing in the Munich World Cup and coming back to prepare for the SEA Games in 2015 but, this year, there's more buffer between that and the Games."
In 2015, Ser was trying to qualify for the Olympics at the Germany World Cup leg from May 26 to June 2, while the SEA Games was from June 5-16.
The Germany competition is held from May 17-24 this year, while the SEA Games is held from Aug 19-31.
But first, Ser will have to contend with a bigger pool of air rifle shooters vying for two slots in the women's 50m rifle 3P for the Games.
Three shooters will be selected via Singapore Shooting Association's selection shoots by April, with the list cut to two by June.
"The air rifle team are very competitive now; we have about six or seven competitive shooters now, compared to three or four in the past, so I am taking nothing for granted," Ser said.
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