Skeet shooting siblings Paul and Natalia Rahman are completing their final preparations for the Beijing Olympics. 16629 Picture: Luke Plummer.By Paul Pickering
FIVE weeks to go and counting: Keysborough skeet shooters Natalia and Paul Rahman have Beijing in their sights.
The siblings returned home from Europe last week after mixed success in the prestigious World Cup event in Belgrade.
In their final international competition before the Olympics, Natalia announced herself as a legitimate medal contender with a fifth placing, while Paul performed well below his best to finish 54th.
For Natalia, 25, it was a case of what might have been as she recovered from a disappointing start to fall just one target shy of third place.
A first-round score of 21 from a possible 25 targets left Natalia well down the rankings, but returns of 24 and 25 in the remaining preliminary rounds saw her vault into the top-six final.
“I was quite happy to end up making the final after the start that I had,” she said. “And I pick up bonus world ranking points for making the final.”
Meanwhile, Paul’s five-round score of 144 left him eight targets outside the final bracket on a congested leader board.
The Rahmans have just over a month to finetune their skills before flying out for Beijing on 6 August.
Paul, who narrowly missed the Olympic final in Athens four years ago, will head to Darwin for a training camp with the national team.
Natalia, though, has elected to stay home and prepare under the watchful eye of her father and coach Goran at the Frankston Gun Club.
With little time for technical changes, Natalia says she will be working more on the psychological aspect of the sport in the coming weeks.
“It’ll be more about trying to simulate competition as much as I can, so I’m sure dad will be trying to put some added pressure on me in training,” she said.
Natalia and Paul have also resumed their regular heat training sessions at the Victorian Institute of Sport in a bid to acclimatise to the conditions expected in Beijing.
As her Olympic debut draws closer, the reality is starting to sink in for Natalia.
“Until now, we’ve had so many competitions that there’s been no time to think about the games,” she said. “But I’m starting to think about it more now and I’m getting pretty excited.
“I’m really looking forward to the opening ceremony and marching into the stadium with all the other competitors.”
