African champion Nourhan Amer is the youngest Egyptian female shooter going to the Olympics Egyptian shooter Nourhan Amer captured a gold medal in the 10 m air rifle for women at the 2011 African Shooting Championship held in Cairo from 15-25 October, Ghada Abdel-Kader reports. The win made Amer an automatic qualifier of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Amer finished with a high score of 392 from 400 points, a new African record. She also became the youngest Egyptian female shooter going to the Games. Amer, 18, has been shooting for only three years. Why shooting? "It looks like me. It's a sport that needs quiet, patience, discipline and accuracy." Amer is a high school science student who wants to become a pharmacist or pathologist. She had to reschedule her exams of this year to next year to participate in the African championship. "I am so lucky to have a father who is a huge support for me. He helped me take the decision about the exams." Next year will be even more difficult for Amer. The Olympic Games begin in May and her school exams are in June. She told Al-Ahram Weekly, "I have prepared myself to finish studying for the exams by March." About her future plans: "The Olympics are part of my dream. My hope is to be a well known world champion and set world records. After the Olympics, I won't remain a shooter in just one event. I'll work on the three air rifle positions: prone, standing and kneeling." To prepare for the Olympics, "in April and May next year I will enter the ISSF (International Shooting Sports Federation) World Cup for Rifle and Pistol held from 13-21 May in Milan. There is also the International Shooting Competition in Hannover from 8-13 May and pre-Olympic championships in London." Training five hours a day, four days a week, Amer takes nutrition seriously. "At the beginning I had a private nutritionist. Then I started reading all the news in the field of nutrition and physiological aspects. I also started attending lectures and seminars." About her favourite food, she smiles. "By coincidence, each time I played in an important championship and my mother served up a delicious liver recipe, I won a gold medal. So it has become a habit." Amer is the oldest of three children. Brother Bassel is a student in secondary school and Karim is a student in preparatory. Their father is the well known air rifle coach Mohamed Amer. Mohamed won more than 50 medals in international championships and 500 medals in national championships. He set several Arab records and was in the Olympics Games in Beijing 2008.
