INCHEON: National coach Lee Jae-hyung reckons Malaysia will end their archery medal drought in the Asian Games.
The South Korean made the assessment after Malaysia finished third in the men’s recurve ranking rounds at the Gyeyang Asiad Archery Field yesterday.
The Malaysian quartet of Khairul Anuar Mohammad, Atiq Bazil Bakri, Haziq Kamaruddin and Muhammad Ikram Joni combined for a 3,955 total. Eighteen teams took part.
Malaysia will field Khairul, Atiq and Haziq (only three archers to compete) in the first round against Nepal tomorrow. If they win, they take on India or Hong Kong in the quarter-finals.
“Our archers’ performances in the ranking rounds here is better than the last Asiad in Guangzhou. I’m very happy with the good start.”
Khairul was the best Malaysian finisher in the individual ranking rounds. He was placed sixth out of 71 archers after collecting 1,344 points.
Atiq finished 16th with a 1,312 total. Haziq amassed 1,299 points for 23rd spot while Ikram was 31st with a 1,280 total.
Only Khairul and Atiq have qualified for the individual medal rounds.
Khairul and Atiq will start their campaign from the second round after receiving first-round byes. Atiq will take on Thailand’s Witthaya Thamwong while Khairul faces either Qatari Ali Ahmed Salem or Uzbek Dilshod Akhmadov.
Jae-hyung believes Khairul, who is nursing a chronic shoulder injury, stands a good chance of winning an individual medal.
“Khairul had a jab to control the pain on his shoulder today (yesterday), but I think he still has a good chance of winning here because the other archers are of the same level as him,” said Jae-hyung.
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
