Air Rifle Shooting

Dr Alina Abdul Rahim

Air Rifle Shooting

After 3 years of representing UKM in shooting competitions, suddenly the privilege disappeared after being commissioned. As an officer, I could only be one of the spectators. No matter how proud it felt having hundreds of cadets saluting each time they pass me in campus, how many times I cheered for them in competitions and getting to shoot other types of weapon I still felt dissatisfied. (* as in Karate & Taekwando, when I was involved into something 7 days a week, I didn't take any photos. These taken from the Net to show how the trainings looked like)

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I guess it's in my blood, this competitive spirit. One morning, at 7:30am I walked into the Vice Chancellors office. He was arranging his file and was surprised to see a girl in an army uniform. I told him I wanted to go into sport shooting. That started a new chapter of my life. A whole new world right among Who's Who, not only in the national sport world but also among world class sportsmen/women. With the full support from the UKM Sport Unit, I started at the Subang Shooting Range, practicing side by side with National Shooters such as Noriha Rani of the Armed Forces and the Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist, Nurul Huda.

Your'e interested? Try holding any 3.3kg object for one hour. No aiming, no standing still. You can walk around. Just hold it in your hand for one hour. Then imagine doing that 5 hours per day. 7 days a week. For two years. Under the watchful eyes of these Russians who looked more like WWF wrestlers than sharpshooters. Then you know why air rifle shooters are the calmest people on earth.

The Subang Shooting Association put me into its training programme. Every Saturdays and Sundays, I undergone a very exhausting training regime by two Russian Olympic Games Gold Medalist, Alexander Kadiarov and Alexander Radiakov. My body was aching all over. Then the range didnt have air conditioner. I was sweating profusely under the thick, heavy shooting jacket. The club was so desperate to get new talents that it would sponsor anyone who wanted to shoot. Many youngsters joined only to quit after one or two session. (pic : My rifle was Austrian made WALTHER).

In Atlanta 1996, Lida Fariman was first woman to compete in the Olympics for Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. She shot air rifle.

Soon the Kajang Shooting Association (KSA) also sponsored me. From Monday to Friday, after my lab work, hubby would send me to the KSA indoor shooting range, to practice with others under the guidance of the veteran National Shooter, Abdul Mutalib Razak of PDRM. Classes were from 8pm to 10pm. There were some other Eastern Europe men and women coaches, who were all Olympic Games Medalists brought in to train Malaysian for the 1998 Commonwealth Games. Even though I didnt make it into the final team (which later saw Nurul break the Games record) I got to enter competitions, trained by local and foreign sport psychologists plus all the package that came along with it. I had shot thousands of ammo, much more than my 3 years with ROTU.

While the training for the army M16 shooting competitions was about brute force, Air Rifle shooting is on the contrary. Instead of push ups and running under the hot sun, this one is almost yoga-liked. If fact, yoga is one of the best exercise for a shooter.

Air rifle shooting is about tranquility, relaxation and mind control. A balance between strength and soul. Your hand must be strong to hold the 3.3kg rifle for about one hour. You feel so silent and at peace, lowering the rate of your heartbeats. Breathing slowly and deeply, you aim at the target. Then between two breaths, you pull the trigger...