Last-round lapse drops Tac to 18th

GUANGZHOU – Nathaniel “Tac” Padilla shot a rare, perfect 100 in the fifth series as he closed in on the leaders but lack of familiarity with newly introduced electronic gadgets took the focus off the 45-year-old veteran in the last series, dropping him to 18th place in the 25m rapid fire pistol final event of the Asian Games.

Padilla finished with 568, 15 points behind eventual winner Li Yuehong of China. Second was Laos Southeast Asian Games team gold medal winner Ha Mnh Thanh of Vietnam (583), who beat world silver medalist Zhan Jian (582).

Padilla won the individual gold medal event in Laos last year while Thanh was member of the Vietnamese team that won the team gold.

“My performance is all right but I am not overly satisfied because of my low mark in the last round,” said Padilla, who has a record 16 straight SEA Games and eight Asian Games participation.

Padilla said the electronic opening-closing apparatus of the target area, which he has encountered only in Guangzhou, caused a mild distraction in the find round.

That gave him an 86

“I practically went off target in the last five rounds, otherwise I could have done better,” said Padilla.

Padilla’s 100 was matched only by Zhang and another Chinese, fourth placer Ding Feng.

Padilla will come back today to compete in the 25m center fire pistol event.

“I could have done better if not for the last five shots which were terrible. My score is not bad, but I was expecting to shoot higher,” said Padilla, who won gold in the same event in the Laos Southeast Asian Games last year.