Gonzales claims youth shootfest air pistol title

MANILA, Philippines – Tagaytay’s Shanin Gonzales missed tying the preliminary scores of the gold medalist in the last Southeast Asian Games by two points as she ran away with the women’s air pistol title in the second Spring Cooking Oil national youth shooting championships last weekend at the 10-meter range inside the Marine Barracks in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.

Gonzales, a 14-year-old student at Woodbridge College, made it to the finals with 377 points and completed the final round at 475.3 to beat Assumption College’s Mica Padilla (457.9) and Ateneo Ruth Ricardo (449.3).

“Shanin is definitely one of our rising shooting stars,” said PSC chairman Harry Angping and PNSA president Art Macapagal, who were both impressed by the winners’ performance since they all fired under pressure.

The other gold medalists in the tourney organized by PNSA/NYDP, sponsored by Spring Cooking Oil and supported by Thermax Ltd., 15B Match Diabolo, Dental First, A. Venue Hotel, Bio Essence, Club Balai Isabel, Water Philippines and Cherry Mobile are Tagaytay’s Simon Gonzales, 641.3, men’s air pistol; Malate Catholic School’s Jayson Valdez, 678.4, men’s air rifle; Miriam College’s Dianne Nicole Eufemio, 480.5, QC; University of Manila’s Venus Tan, 362, women’s air rifle without jacket; Joshua Dominique, 264, men’s and women’s air rifle (bench rest); Jethro Palma, 283, men’s women’s air pistol (bench rest); Dervin Tan (Ateneo)/Shanin Gonzales, 209.6, air pistol mixed team; and Jayson Valdez (Malate)/Jean Alexis Go (Ateneo), 195.9, air rifle mixed team.