MANILA—Barcelona Olympian Emerito Concepcion displayed nerves of steel and put together a strong finish with everything on the line to pip rising star Jason Valdez and rule the 10-meter Air Rifle event of the 2011 PNSA National Open at the Philippine Sports Commission-Philippine National Shooting Association shooting range in Fort Bonifacio.
Tied with the 15-year-old sensation from Malate Catholic School going into the sixth and final round, Concepcion needed to be within a hair of perfection after Valdez cooked up a 98 for a 583 aggregate.
The three-time SEA Games gold medalist summoned his old brilliance for a near-perfect 99 gave him a six-round total of 584 in the event organized by PNSA, headed by Mikee Romero, and presented by Harbour Centre and AirAsia.
Miguel Gabriel Jayme finished third with 561, four points ahead of Celdon Arellano.
“It was a thriller of a shootout,” said Romero, who is pinning his hopes on the two crack air rifle shooters and pistol king Tac Padilla in the coming SEA Games. “But I still believe that we can pull off some surprises in other events, even in the women’s division. They’re all pumped for the SEA Games.”
In the distaff side, Venus Lovelyn Tan, also a member of the 11-man Philippine team for this year’s Indonesia SEA Games, tallied 383 points to beat Diana Nicole Eufemio by three.
Meantime, action resumes Saturday with the staging of rapid fire—25m and 50m range—on Saturday and center fire pistol, sports pistol and rifle prone on Sunday.