And firing the opening salvo yesterday was Therese Cantada, a member of the RP shooting team since 1992, who denounced the way PNSA affairs are being run, managed and controlled by its president, Art Macapagal.
Cantada, whose younger brother Gerard was a former member of the RP golf team, rued the lack of support the 22 members of the national shooting team are getting from the association, particularly on the training aspect.
Cantada, who competes in the sport pistol event, said the national shooters have to spend their own money just to buy training ammunition. For her part, she spends at least P2,000 a week for 200 rounds of .22 caliber bullets.
"It’s been a long time since we last received training ammunition from the PNSA. And while our Malaysian counterparts are getting 200 rounds a day, four times a week, in training, we have to make ours last for two to three sessions. And we buy our own bullets,"said Cantada.
"Ammunition has not been purchased for the rifle and pistol teams since the term of Art Macapagal as president began in 2000," added Cantada, who receives a monthly allowance of close to P5,000 from the Philippine Sports Commission.
The bubbly shooter who has won a couple of medals in the SEA Games also decried the "biased selection" of national shooters and coaches who will be sent to the biennial games in Vietnam this December.
Cantada also cried foul over the manner by which her national record in the sport pistol event was broken by teammate Susan Aguado during the PNSA’s monthly competition at the Fort Bonifacio firing range last Sunday. She cited the "substandard and questionable" officiating during the said meet.
Cantada said the absence of a jury and the fielding of inexperienced target officers made the results of the tournament so questionable. In fact, she observed that her scores in the precision stage were being given a higher value by the two target officers on the firing line.
"My shots were called 10-10-10-10-9 (49 pts) when they were actually 10-10-10-9-9 (48 pts) because both nines were clearly not touching the 10 scoring ring. I brought this to the attention of the chief range officer but they did not act on it. They did not address the inaccurate calling of shots," said Cantada.
When the smoke of battle cleared, Aguado had 578 points to break Cantada’s year-old record of 576. Cantada finished second at 547.
She said she brought the matter to Macapagal the day after but was branded as a "sour loser."
"It’s not that my record was broken but by the manner it was broken. I hope that by doing this will help improve future officiating," she added.
Cantada said she’s willing to face the consequences of her actions, adding that this might even jeopardize her inclusion in the SEA Games lineup.
"In fact, we’re leaving next week for the Bangkok Open. Now I don’t know if I’ll make the trip. We’ll just see," she said.