Shooter Ang blames 1st-day jitters in poor showing

MANILA, Philippines — Shooter Eric Ang went to battle early in the day and returned to Team Philippines’ camp fighting for dear life. Admitting first-day jitters had a lot to do with his poor showing, the 37-year-old Ang shot 65 out of 75 birds after the first three rounds to find himself virtually out of the running with one round remaining in the men’s trap event of the 29th Beijing Olympic Games shooting competitions. “Masyado akong excited. Gigil na gigil ako," said Ang, bitter at the outcome of his first Olympic stint that saw him in a tie with four others for 29th to 33 places in a starting field of 35. Using a Beretta DT 10 shotgun which has been with him for the last three years, Ang couldn’t do anything right in the first frame and shot just 19 birds out of a possible 25 to fall way down early in the battles at the Beijing Shooting range, a 17,000-capacity hall designed to reflect the shape of a hunting bow. Ang, a businessman from Laoag City who got here as a wild card entry, recovered with a 24 in the second round, missing only the 23rd bird, before closing out with a 22 for that 65 that tied him with China’s Li Yajun, American Bret Erickson, New Zealand’s Graeme Ede and France’s Stephane Clamens. To make it to the six-man finals, Ang would need a perfect 25 in Sunday’s fourth round and pray the next 30 shooters ahead of him in the standings “shoot very, very poorly’’ to make it to the championship round in the afternoon. Watching from the sidelines as Ang struggled with his shots in the first round was shooting president and RP Olympic envoy Art Macapagal, who admitted the chances of the lone Filipino bet in shooting is as dim as the Beijing skyline. “He has to be perfect tomorrow, meaning he has to shoot a 25 and the rest shoot poorly to make it,’’ said Macapagal, while admitting that this is not the right way to deal with the tough task at hand. “That’s a wrong attitude because you should rely on yourself and not on other’s mistake,’’ added Macapagal, who is President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s half-brother. In a sterling performance, David Kostelecky of Czechoslovakia fired a perfect 25 in the final round after an earlier pair of 25s, to tie Italian veteran Giovanni Pellielo who stumbled to a 23 in the last frame after a perfect 25 in the first two. Defending champion Michael Diamond of Australia was not far behind firing a 72 for a tie with four others, including Alexey Alipov, the same Russian who beat Ang in a shootoff for the last final slot in a top-level German tournament early this year. Actually, Ang ,who has been in this sport since 1996 after a long stint in practical shooting, was doing well in the first round until he missed three straight birds “between the 20th to the 25th bird.’’ His 19 turned out to be the second poorest score in the opening round, just a shot better than the 18 of Li Yajun, one of two hometown bets in this event where the world record is a perfect 125 held by Pellielo and the Olympic mark is 124 by Diamond. “Maganda naman sana kaya lang sumabog ng nag-miss ako ng tatlong sunod-sunod sa last few birds ng first frame," added Ang, who became the third Filipino to win an Olympic berth as a wild card after George Earnshaw (1996 Atlanta) and Jethro Dionisio (2004 Athens). And like Earnshaw and Dionisio in their times, he should be looking for the next available flight back to Manila after today’s round. – GMANews.TV