Fathur Gustafian became the local hero at the Asia Rifle/Pistol Championships in Jakarta today as he earned his country a Paris 2024 quota place in the men’s 10m air rifle.
The 25-year-old from Bogor became a history man too as he was Indonesia’s first shooting athlete to qualify for the Olympics.
Gustafian, who had earned the last available place in qualifying, secured his landmark achievement by finishing fourth in the men’s 10m air rifle final at the Senayan Shooting Range in an event that is doubling as the Asia Olympic Qualifier.
He finished with the flourish of a perfect 10.9 that had the home crowd whooping and cheering, but it was still not quite enough for him to progress to the medal round. His main work, however, was accomplished, and he punched the air to acknowledge the applause.
“It’s really amazing,” he told ISSF TV. “I want to say thank you to my country, my federation, my family, my wife and my daughter who is also here to support me.
“I have tried to win a quota place twice before, in the 10m and 50m, but it wasn’t my day.
“Now I have done it and it is amazing. God has shown me the way to go to the Olympics. I will now train hard and maybe I will have a chance to win a medal at the Olympics. It’s not impossible!”
Asked about his 10.9, he responded: “I had shot a 10.1 just before, so I felt like I had nothing to lose.”
Two other quota places went to athletes who finished off the podium as Vietnam’s Thi Le and Fatemeh Amini Pozveh of Iran, respectively fifth and sixth, earned Paris spots for their country in the women’s 10m air rifle.
Ma Sihan of China won the men’s 10m air rifle title with a score of 251.4 after swapping the lead throughout with the Republic of Korea’s Daehan Choe.
But while Ma became Asian champion, there was no quota place available for him as China had already earned their two spots thanks to previous efforts from Sheng Lihao, in 2022, and Yang Haoran last year.
For Choe, who finished second on 250.7, there was the silver lining of claiming the other available Paris 2024 quota place.
Bronze went to the India’s Rudrankksh Patil, who had won mixed 10m air rifle gold the previous day in partnership with Esha Singh and who earned a quota place for his country in 2022.
The Korean shooter had regained top spot by a margin of just 0.1 going into the three-man medal round, but then Ma restored himself to pre-eminence with a second shot of 10.8 to go into the gold-medal round leading by 0.3 points.
A 10.4 and another 10.8 secured him his winning total as Choe shot 10.5 and 10.3.
Ma was one of three Chinese shooters to make the final, with compatriots Zhu Mingshuai and Gao Qiang finishing fifth and eighth respectively.
Arjun Babuta of India was sixth and Choe’s fellow Korean Hajun Park, who had topped qualifying earlier in the day, was seventh.
India’s overall domination of these Championships was maintained in the women’s final as Nancy Nancy beat her compatriot Elavenil Valarivan to gold by just 0.1 – 252.8 to 252.7.
Nancy’s total was an Asian junior record.
Mehuli Ghosh, who had partnered Patil the previous day in winning the mixed 10m air rifle title, missed bronze by one place as China’s Yufan Shen secured the last step of the podium.
Seventh place went to Eunseo Lee of the Republic of Korea, with Singapore’s Natanya Tan finishing eighth.
Competition in Paris 2024 disciplines continues at the Senayan Range tomorrow when the women’s 25m pistol event takes place.