Veloso's mind helps her mine gold

In just five days, shooter Martina Veloso has broken two Commonwealth Games records and bagged Singapore's only two gold medals.

Singapore Shooting Association high performance manager Jeanine Heng believes that the 18-year-old has achieved that because she has been maturing fast since her Games debut four years ago.

Heng told The New Paper that Veloso's mental fortitude helped her win the women's 50m rifle prone final in a Games-record score of 621.0 yesterday, even though it is not her pet event.

She won despite it being her first time taking part in a prone event since last year's 41st South-east Asia Shooting Championships.

Said Heng: "Over the last four years she has developed the maturity and ability to manage the expectations and pressure in the competition.

"I think because this isn't her pet event, she just did her best for each series and it paid off."

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On Monday, Veloso had won the gold medal in the 10m air rifle event, also in record-breaking style.

This isn't her pet event, she just did her best... and it paid off. Jeanine Heng on Martina Veloso

Heng commended her success, saying: "It's a great achievement for her and for shooting to be able to contribute to Singapore's medal tally."

Veloso will wrap up her Games campaign in today's women's 50m rifle 3 positions event.

Teammate Jasmine Ser finished fifth with 615.6 points in yesterday's prone event.

Badminton's young guns also continued to impress but they face giant tasks in today's quarter-finals.

In the men's singles, Ryan Ng will meet world No. 1 Srikanth Kidambi from India, while Loh Kean Yew will meet world No. 7 Malaysian Lee Chong Wei.

But the 20-year-olds are looking forward to the challenge.

Savouring the chance to play against Lee, Loh said: "I feel that this is a good chance to play Lee Chong Wei, one of the very best badminton players in the world.

"Whatever the outcome, I believe it'll be a great experience and learning opportunity."

Ng said: "It is an honour to play against the world No. 1. I hope to be able to withhold my excitement and nerves so that I can play my very best."

In today's quarter-finals, mixed doubles pair Terry Hee and Tan Wei Han take on England's Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith, while men's doubles duo Danny Chrisnanta and Hee will also come up against an English pair in Ellis and Chris Langridge.

The paddlers kept their hopes of gold alive as several of them progressed to the next stage of their respective events.

Women's doubles pair Feng Tianwei and Yu Mengyu will face India's Sutirtha Mukherjee and Pooja Sahasrabudhe in the semi-finals after they beat Australia's Michelle Bromley and Melissa Tapper 3-0 (11-3, 11-5, 11-1) today.

In the women's singles, Feng's 4-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-3, 14-12) win over England's Kelly Sibley sets her up with a chance for revenge over India's Manika Batra in tomorrow's semi-final.

Yu also advanced with her 4-1 (15-13, 11-7, 11-5, 7-11, 11-5) win over India's Mouma Das.

Mixed doubles duo Gao Ning and Yu beat Australia's Yan Xin and Lay Jian Fang 3-2 (11-8, 6-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-3).

Pang Xue Jie and Zhou Yihan also booked their quarter-final berth after they saw off Australia's Hu Heming and Tapper 3-2 (11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9).

Gao defeated Malaysia's Muhammad Ashraf Haiq. Muhamad Rizal 4-0 (11-3, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7) in the men's singles to advance to the last eight.

In the men's 3m springboard event, diver Mark Lee scored 329 points to finish 13th out of 17, while gymnast Aiko Tan Jun finished 15th with a score of 37.200 in the individual all around.