PNSA not favoring any shooter for SEA Games

The Philippine National Shooting Association yesterday dodged the bullet fired by a disgruntled member of the national team who cried foul over the association’s lack of support as far as their training for this year’s Vietnam SEA Games is concerned.

Joey Mundo, PNSA vice president for technical affairs, denied the accusations hurled by .22 cal sport pistol specialist Therese Cantada the other day, including the association’s "biased selection" of shooters and coaches who will be sent to the biennial games this December.

Cantada, a veteran of the 1995, 1997 and 2001 SEA Games, also decried the continued absence of training ammunition under PNSA president Art Macapagal, and the poor officiating in the monthly tournaments leading up to the Vietnam SEA Games.

Mundo explained that nothing is definite yet as far as the composition of the SEA Games lineup is concerned, and that all 22 shooters in the pool, including Cantada, remain as mere candidates subject to performance evaluation until November. A certain criteria has been set by the PNSA and the Philippine Olympic Committee for the selection process.

"As far as the PNSA is concerned, we are not favoring anybody," was Macapagal’s statement.

Regarding the monthly tournaments, Mundo said the PNSA has always been transparent with the scoring that is handled by qualified personnel. These tournaments, he added, are conducted primarily to provide opportunities for aspiring shooters who wish to join the SEA Games squad.

Before a small group of mediamen, Cantada questioned the manner by which her year-old national record in the .22 cal sport pistol event (576) was surpassed by Susan Aguado (578) last Oct. 12 at the Ft. Bonifacion firing range. She said inexperienced target officers who handled the scoring led to the questionable outcome of the meet.

One of the target officers called Mundo yesterday morning and said Cantada and Aguado were side by side when they competed in the sport pistol event, and that the former could have aired any complaint right there and then – not days after the tournament and more so, before the media.

Cantada said she questioned the scoring even before the results were finalized. But they fell on deaf ears, giving her no other choice but to accept the outcome.

Mundo said that in the absence of training ammunition from the Philippine Sports Commission, the national shooters have agreed to buy their own bullets and later on have their expenses reimbursed by the PNSA.

"The PNSA called for a meeting and all the 22 candidates were told of the current unavailability of ammunition and it was a request from the president for the shooters to use their own reserves or resources while we await the arrival of the PSC supply. The shooters were told that they would be reimbursed. This was very well received by the candidates. They even expressed their thanks for the reimbursement scheme," said Mundo.

The PSC yesterday explained that the latest request from the PNSA was for shotgun bullets that were used in the recent Presidential Clay Shooting Championships in Vigan, Ilocos Sur. The request for .22 cal bullets costing at least P10 each was made last week and will be delivered in a few days.

The fresh supply of the .22 cal bullets will last for 45 days or even when the national shooters are already in Vietnam for the SEA Games starting Dec. 5 or 48 days from now, according to the PSC.

But until they arrive, our national shooters might as well keep their guns–holstered, magazines empty.