AIMING FOR glory, the Ateneo Rifle Pistol Team (ARPT)’s members continued their impressive form at the Philippine National Shooting Association (PNSA) National Open 2024, once again going head-to-head with the Philippine National Team. This performance follows their recent triumph at the 46th Southeast Asian Shooting Association (SEASA) Shooting Championships – Philippine Open 2024, where the team secured both a gold and bronze medal.

The events, held in partnership with the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF), took place from December 1 to 14 of last year at the Marines Training Center in the City of Taguig.

ISSF 10M Air Rifle (AR)

On the eighth day of the tournament, the ARPT started in the AR-10M (60 shots) individual events, with Team Captain Sofia Manding and Aliyah Herlihy securing fourth and fifth place in the women’s division, respectively. Manding scored 512, while Herlihy tallied 500 over six strings. Meanwhile, Ateneo’s Brendan Gabrielle Fausto acquired a bronze finish in the individual men’s event.

In the Mixed Team 30-shot relay event, High-Low mechanics were implemented per ISSF Youth Olympic rules to divide the eight competitors into four duos—addressing the uneven number of male and female participants.

National Team Pool member Amparo Acuña scored 619 points in the individual category and was paired alongside ARPT’s Fausto, the lowest performer among the participants at 475 points. After the initial pairing, ARPT’s Manding joined Tokyo 2020 Olympian Jayson Valdez, the third-highest scorer in the AR-10M bouts, while Herlihy partnered with the second-best performer, Denise Basila.

In the first stage of the mixed AR-10M event, the Valdez-Manding duo shot up to second place with a combined score of 568.9. This performance punched their tickets to the finals, where they faced Wilfred Ocampo and Venus Tan for gold. Meanwhile, the other two duos, Acuña-Fausto and Herlihy-Basila, placed third and fourth, respectively, and were pitted against each other in the bronze title match.

The playoffs followed a Race to 16 format to determine the victor. In the stage one finals bout for bronze, the format’s heightened intensity was on full display during a back-and-forth shootout between the two pairings. The Herlihy-Basila tandem erased a large deficit by the eleventh shot, closing the gap to 10-12. However, Acuña-Fausto maintained their advantage, securing a bronze-clinching 16-10 victory.

The stage two finals for the gold medal between Valdez-Manding and Ocampo-Tan proved even more competitive than the third-place match. The match came down to one final shot, where Manding hit an 8.9 and Valdez scored a 9.4 to seal a 17-15 victory for a gold finish.

These remarkable upsets marked another great performance from the ARPT in December and served as a fitting swan song for Fausto, who is months away from his graduation.

ISSF 10m Air Pistol (AP)

The Katipunan-based squad carried their earlier momentum into the final day of the 2024 PNSA in the AP-10M category.

In the men’s division, ARPT alumni and representatives Jeffrey Jongko, John Owen Ilagan, and Michael Go were unable to capture podium berths after six strings.

Nonetheless, success was found in the individual women’s AP-10M (60 shots) event. ARPT’s Arabella Navarro marginally lost third to Elvie Baldivino, while Shaan Graal Dayag claimed sixth.

Similar to the AR category, the ARPT tested its mettle in the AP Mixed relay (30 shots) event through the pairs of Ilagan-Dayag and Jongko—who joined forces with Marites Guerrero. This time, the ISSF AP Mixed mechanics were utilized, pairing individuals of similar ranking.

Although the Ilagan-Dayag pairing finished last in the 30-shot relay, the Jongko-Guerrero tandem clinched fourth to advance and face previous silver medal favorites Juancho Masecampo and Carol Peñaflorida in the playoffs.

In the Race to 16 bronze medal match, Jongko and Guerrero took an early six-point advantage, 8-2. However, the tides quickly shifted, as Masecampo-Peñaflorida equalized at 13-13. Undeterred, Ateneo alumni Jongko consistently shot well under pressure en route to a 17-13 upset victory over the developmental pool players. The win gave ARPT another third-place finish at the PNSA, capping off their year with major success.