SAF SHOOTERS DO WELL AT AARM 2010

The Singapore Armed Forces Shooting Contingent (SSC) has returned with two Second Runner-up titles in the 20th ASEAN Armies Rifles Meet 2010 (AARM 2010) held at Terendak Camp in Malacca, Malaysia from 10 to 29 Oct. Clinching the honours were the Pistol Ladies team and the General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) Team.

In addition, team member 2nd Warrant Officer (2WO) Pheong Siew Shya came in first in Match 1 of the Pistol Ladies event, while 3rd Warrant Officer Noor Azman Bin Tubi and First Sergeant (1SG) Nicolai Tywan Ong secured the Second Runner Up position in Match 1 and Match 2 of the Carbine event respectively.

While the foreign conditions in Malacca posed some challenges to the SAF shooting contingent, the team "did a lot of practice to acclimatise and cope with the weather and range conditions," said GPMG team Coach 2WO Lingesvaran.

Finding good female shooters was also a challenge for the Pistol Ladies team. "Very few of our servicewomen have experience with shooting a pistol and they have to commence training as total newbies, so it required a lot of effort," explained the Pistol Ladies team Coach 2WO Lee Aik Shiong.

To overcome the odds, both teams worked hard to build strength of mind. "We trained every day in the run-up to the competition and made sure to build the necessary mental skills to overcome the stress and anxiety during our routine training sessions," said 2WO Lee.

With two of its five team members completely new to competition conditions, psychological strength was especially important to the Pistol Ladies team. "We are extremely proud of our results, given that the team is relatively new," said 2WO Lee.

Mental mettle also shone through for 1SG Wales Seans Anthony and Corporal First Class Muhammed Firdaus Bin Samsudin from the GPMG team, coming only one point behind match champions Indonesia during their Match 1 competition.

AARM 2010 saw 451 shooters from the ASEAN (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) nations coming together in a friendly test of shooting competencies. The SSC sent 31 shooters to compete in the competition.

Established in 1991, AARM aims to develop and strengthen the relationship between military personnel of ASEAN armies of all ranks. There are five categories in the competition: Rifle, Machine Gun, Carbine and a Pistol event each for men and women.