When Malaysian shooter Nur Suryani Mohamed Taibi takes aim with her rifle at the Olympics it will not just be nerves she will be attempting to control inside her.
When Malaysian shooter Nur Suryani Mohamed Taibi takes aim with her rifle at the Olympics it will not just be nerves she will be attempting to control inside her.
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The 29-year-old from Perak, situated 200 kilometres north of Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur, is due to give birth to her first child on Sept. 2, less than a month after the Games end.
"I will talk to the baby before I compete... 'no kicking, stay calm for one hour and 15 minutes only please'", Suryani said. "When I go to London, I will be 33 weeks, when I come back it will be 34 weeks."
While the sight of her swelling stomach on the range at the Royal Artillery Barracks in east London is likely to make her the most conspicuous of the 390 shooting competitors at the Games, there have been doubts from the Malaysian public about whether she should travel.
While shooting is not too physically taxing, the mental stress and pressure of Olympic competition are sure to have an effect on the her in the heat of battle, something which her family is worried about. "They are thinking 'can you do that, can you do that'? I say 'no problem'. You don't feel lonely, when I'm pregnant I don't have problems, I enjoy it."
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