Despite some disappointment, 16-year-old Emily Esposito has put in a great performance to finish 15th in the junior women’s air pistol this morning, clocking a total of 367 points.

Esposito’s nerves at the high-level competition were evident at the beginning of the 75 minute shooting marathon, although she soon settled into form, producing a succession of 9s and 10s.

After 10 minutes of shooting, Esposito came off the range for a debrief with her coach, Anatoly Babuskin.

She returned to her pistol and pellets with renewed vigour and finished the first round of 10 shots with a total of 93 points to get her on the board.

With 35 minutes remaining in the competition, chaos struck the range when Kseniya Faminykh of Belarus collapsed.

Competition was suspended while medical staff attended to the 18-year-old Belarusian who was rushed from the range on a stretcher.

For a sport that requires the utmost concentration and focus, this was a huge shock to the remaining 19 competitors and meant they were forced to draw on all their experience to get back in the zone.

“It was kind of distracting,” Esposito said. “It sounds strange, but because everyone was distracted I almost felt more relaxed. The poor girl though, I have never seen that in a competition before.”

Esposito shot 91 in the second round of 10 shots and 95 in the third keeping her within a whisper of the top eight, and a finals berth.

Her Youth Olympic campaign came undone in the fourth set of 10 shots however, shooting 88 which meant she dropped into 15th place where she would finish.

“I didn’t feel good, I’m really disappointed,” she said. “My shots didn’t feel as bad as they were – I think I just wasn’t watching my sights.”

China’s Fang Xue led for the majority of the qualification round but it was Korean shooter Kim Jang Mi who stole the show, producing a 10 on her last shot to bring her score to 378, posting her in the number one ranked spot going into this afternoon’s final.

Esposito will now kick back and enjoy the rest of the Youth Olympic Games experience before resetting her focus on her bright future as a star of Australian shooting.

“Training,” she said of what is next. “Training and training. I have Aus Cup 3 in September so more training for that. I know what I need to fix, what I was doing wrong and what I can do better.”

Pistol shooting continues tomorrow with Australia’s Janek Janski competing in the junior men’s 10m air pistol at the Singapore Sports School.

Alice Wheeler
AOC