Surprises At Shooting Range, Badminton Court Lift Gloom In Malaysian Contingent

From Zuriati Zulmi INCHEON (South Korea), Sept 25 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian contingent's fifth day action in the Incheon Asian Games in South Korea produced two pleasant surprises - one at the shooting range and the other at the badminton court. National shooter Nur Suryani Mohamed Taibi gunned down a surprise silver medal in the women's individual 50m Rifle Prone, incidentally on her 32nd birthday, while shuttlers Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei pulled off a major upset by beating last year's world champion and this year's World Championships finalist Wang Xiaoli/Yu Yang from China in their second round match. The 11-21, 21-11, 22-20 win against the powerful Chinese pair earned the Malaysian pair a place in the quarterfinals and the prospect of becoming the first Malaysian women's pair to win a medal in the Asian Games. Hoo-Khe Wei meet Macau's Wang Rong/Zhang Zhibo for a place in the semifinals. The men's and women's squash teams also kept their medal hopes alive when the men beat Jordan 2-1 and Japan 3-0 while then women whitewashed Japan 3-0. In cycling, Mohd Azizulhasni Awang who failed to finish on the podium in the men's individual Sprint on Wednesday, will have an opportunity to make amends in the Keirin event on Thursday, with Josiah Ng. Fatehah Mustapa who put up a splendid display to win a silver medal in the women's Keirin on Sunday will also see action in the velodrome when she competes in the women's individual Sprint. Fatehah who beat South Korea's Lee Hyejin 2-0 in the quarterfinals, face China's Zhong Tianshi in the semifinal Friday. China continued to pull away from the rest of the chasing pack after accumulating 59 gold, 32 silver, 27 bronze, leaving host South Korea a distant second, with 26 gold, 23 silver and 25 bronze medals. Japan maintained third spot with 20 gold, 29 silver, 27 bronze while Malaysia who were in seventh spot on Tuesday, slipped to 10th place despite adding a silver and bronze medal. Malaysia's quest for medals will continue tomorrow in shooting, cycling, badminton, squash, sailing, archery, hockey, golf and tenpin bowling. --BERNAMA