Steady Ang’s last-gasp shot delivers gold

HANOI, Vietnam (Via Globe Telecom) — Tension gripped the Philippine trap team as the last man on the four-man squad raised his rifle to aim at his target. At stake was the gold medal in the men’s trap competition.

Eric Ang, gold medalist in an international competition early this year and champion practical shooter who turned into trap shooting, was the fourth and last man. If he failed to hit the mark, the opponent to his right, a Vietnamese, could tie the team score and force a shootoff.

The shot cracked, the clay target broke to pieces. There was a champion.

Coach Ramon Corral and the rest of the skeet and trap team rushed to the field to hug the 5-3, 32-year-old Ang and celebrate the Philippine victory to the shock of fancied Vietnam, which lost it by only a point, 309-308.

The win was sweet for the RP team as it was the very first gold the shooting team won in a medal-rich sport dominated from opening day by the Vietnamese at the shooting range of the National Sports Training Center outside the city limits.

"Nakahinga rin sa wakas," said Ang with a wide grin as he downed a bottle of mineral water. "Ang lakas ng kaba ko. Hindi ko na lang binilang ang score ng kalaban, binantayan ko na lang ang score ng katabi ko."

The man beside him was Le Nghia, the best man on the Vietnamese lineup, who eventually won the individual gold in the event.

The Philippines, which included former world practical shoot champion Jethro Dionisio, and Vietnam were tied at 266 after the first 50 shots. Jaime Recio, the durable 49-old mainstay who last won two gold medals in Brunei in 1999, made the job somewhat easier for Ang by leading his Vietnamese rival Duong Anh Trung by two, 20-18.

That gave the Philippines a two-point lead before the Ang-Nghia face off. The Vietnamese reduced the lead to only one when Ang missed his 15th target, but the Filipino held his ground in the last 10 to keep the one-point deficit.

In the end, the Vietnamese led, 24-23, giving the Philippines the one-point gold medal win.

Vietnamese officials walked over to the Philippine team to congratulate Ang and Recio on the first-ever upset absorbed by the Vietnamese.

"Good, very good team," the official said as he congratulated Ang, who won the President’s Cup among competitors from 11 nations in his native Laoag City early this year.

"Masarap na panalo ito, para kang dumaan sa butas ng karayom," said Recio. "Akala namin ang kalaban dito Malaysia, iyon pala Vietnam at pagkagaling-galing na pala nila!"