Pressure, desire to win worked against Tac

He had the blood of a champion, and it surged uncontrollably in one crucial moment in the finals of the 25m sport pistol event. He was on target for the gold and now, he thought the opportunity was on him.

This time, his desire to win the gold backfired when Nathaniel "Tac" Padilla lost the lead going into the last six shots of the competition and settled for the bronze behind a Thai and a Vietnamese.

"This is a concentration game, it is a pressure game," said his father Tom Ong, also a former Olympian and champion marksman before he retired to be the coach of his son.

After the last shot was fired, Padilla could not hide his deep frustration in front of the boisterous crowd that cheered the new champion, Vietnamese Cao Song Phan.

"I wanted to go for the gold," said Tac. "Nakasama pa yata. I should have concentrated on just playing my game."

From the shooting stand at the National Sports Training Center, the same venue where the archery competitions were concluded two days earlier, the short road to the quarters — about 300 meters — seemed long as Padilla walked, his head bowed with bag on his shoulder, slowly, shaking his head while trying to figure out how he could have allowed the gold to slip away.

His father just allowed him to walk alone and let the pain sink a bit. Anyway, there are two more events left in the schedule.

"I put too much pressure on myself," said Padilla, who was leading the field before the last six shots.

Cao Song won the gold with 668 points. Thai Ruegpanyawut took the silver with 667.3 and Padilla the bronze with 664.3.