Sniper sisters shoot round the world

The well-dressed Manhattanites don’t fit the typical backcountry-woodsmen stereotype of competitive shooters. That’s not to say that the sisters aren’t passionate about their little-understood sport.

“It’s an amazing sport,” Abigail said. “I’ve never seen a sport that’s so supportive of its members. It’s got a great community.”

Three-position rifle is a fairly simple sport. Competitors position themselves 50 meters away from a target, which they shoot at from three different positions: standing, kneeling and prone. Athletes rely on only themselves, which is one reason Sandra finds the sport so addictive.

“It’s you against yourself and your score,” Sandra said. “It’s a pure score and numbers game, it’s not judging. It’s just all on you.”

At Princeton, the Fong sisters have catapulted the University’s club rifle program from obscurity to prominence in the world of collegiate shooting. Princeton’s relatively underfunded rifle team has historically been a respectable but not dominant program, largely because the team lacks varsity status. With the addition of the Fong sisters, however, the Orange and Black stands a chance at beating its better-funded NCAA rivals.

“I think that now that Sandra is on the team, we have a really good chance of smoking our competition,” Abigail said. “I’d really like to see the team make it to the championships and do well there.”

When they’re not competing for Princeton, the Fongs are competing for the United States as members of the U.S. national team. Four times each spring, Abigail and Sandra travel as far as Korea and Italy to compete side by side on the World Cup circuit. But Sandra, who edged out her older sister for the second and final spot on the Olympic roster at last February’s U.S. trials, said the sisters are hardly rivals.

The duo got into shooting about six years ago, when their father decided to get back into the sport that he had competed in as a teenager. The Fongs’ father fell back in love with shooting, and invited his daughters — avid swimmers — to come to the range with him.

“As a good competitor, you always want to see yourself come up on top,” Sandra said. “But at the same time, I’m always happy to see her have a spectacular day.”

For the Fongs, what began mostly as a way of spending quality time with their father eventually transformed into something greater than a hobby. They began competing in rifle competitions and found that they had a surprising knack for the sport. They quit swimming, joined a local club shooting team and haven’t lost interest since.

“There’s a kind of an addictive aspect to it,” Abigail said.

Abigail came to Princeton both for its strong academics and for its strong club rifle program, which the Fongs said is unusual in schools of its caliber. Sandra came to Princeton for the academics and to train with her sister.

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“Whenever I have a problem, there’s always someone there to push me,” Sandra said of having her sister on the team. “It’s definitely the best structure I could ask for.”

Abigail agreed with her younger sibling.

“It makes it a lot easier,” Abigail said. “We grew up doing almost everything together, so it’s nice to be back [to that].”

Plus, here at Princeton, the Fong sisters have the facilities necessary to train for the 2012 London Olympics. Abigail said that she intends to continue to compete through 2012, with her eye on making the Olympic team, though she says that she’s not sure how she’ll train after she graduates.

Surprisingly — or perhaps not — Abigail and Sandra are not the only Olympic hopefuls in their immediate family. Their younger sister, 17-year-old Danielle, competed in last month’s Paralympic Games, which was also held in Beijing. Like her older sisters, Danielle, who has cerebral palsy, competes in three-position rifle.

“Hopefully, this time all three Fong women will compete [in 2012],” Sandra said.

With this group of sharpshooters, don’t be surprised if she’s right.