Natalia Rahman finished ninth at last month’s World Skeet By Marc McGowan
KEYSBOROUGH-based skeet shooting star Natalia Rahman defied the low profile of her sport in Australia to make a big splash at the World Championships in Croatia last month.
Rahman, 24, upstaged many of her more fancied rivals to finish in ninth place at the event by hitting 69 of a possible 75 targets and miss the six-person final by just one target.
The result has established her as the number one female skeet shooter in Australia, and has rocketed Rahman’s world ranking up to 21.
“I just concentrated on the small picture, and didn’t worry about anyone else,” she said.
“It was a high-scoring event. Usually that score would have got me a medal.”
The competition was a natural progression for Rahman, who won silver and bronze medals in the World Junior Championships in 2002 and 2001 respectively.
She has also represented Australia at the past two Commonwealth Games and has picked up two gold medals and a silver for her efforts.
Rahman started the sport in 1996 and was competing at a national level by the following year, but it was her bronze medal at the World Junior Championships which made her feel like she belonged.
“It was pretty good. It was the start of my career on the international scene – it gave me a boost in the sport,” Rahman said.
“I didn’t know what to expect (entering the event), but the second time around (at the World Junior Championships in 2002) I had more idea about how I was going to go against international competition.”
Rahman feels she has become a better shooter since the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in March, and credits her improvement to an unusual ally.
“I went and saw a hypnotherapist,” Rahman said.
“They gave me a CD to listen to before I go out, and it just helps me think positively, and get rid of the negative thoughts. It seems to be helping.”
However, Rahman’s battle against her mind is nothing like the struggle she and her sport face for exposure in Australia.
“There is not really much exposure at all,” Rahman, who is forced to work full-time to finance her skeet pursuits, said.
“They need a bit more promotion.”
Shooting suffers greatly from the negative connotations towards guns in general, but Rahman feels the sport is misrepresented.
“In Europe they have a very different attitude – it is very negative here,” she said.
“It’s not the gun that does it – it’s the person.
“If people actually came out and saw the sport, they’d see all the safety precautions we have in place.”
For now, Rahman is content on focusing on her personal goals, with the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games high on the agenda after she failed to qualify for the Athens Olympic Games two years ago.
“In Athens I don’t think I put enough training in. I had just finished uni and didn’t go to enough competitions,” she said.
It is a different story this time around, and Rahman is in the middle of switching jobs to further accommodate her shooting career.
“My new job pays better, which allows me to train more, and I have to do less hours,” she said.
“They are great about it.”
