Coach Jae-hyung comes to archers’ defence after Rio exit

Malaysian achers Mohd Akmal Nor Hasrin (centre) Haziq Kamruddin (right) and Khairul Anuar Mohamad (left ) and coach Lee Jae Hyung leaving the after losing to France in the Men's team at Sambodromo Marcana venue in Rio De Janeiro.France won 6-2. AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star (6/8/2016)

RIO DE JANEIRO: Malaysia coach Lee Jae-hyung has defended his archers after Malaysia’s poor showing at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Malaysia were way off target, with all their archers – national No. 1 Khairul Anuar Mohamed, Muhammad Akmal Nor Hasrin and Haziq Kamaruddin – wiped out in the men’s individual event at the Sambodromo on Wednesday.

Khairul was sent packing in the round of 32 by German Florian Floto.The 25-year-old Khairul led 4-0 on a cold and windy Wednesday morning, but could not tame the winds to go down 6-4.

Earlier in the round of 64, Khairul was easy 6-0 winner over Andres Pila of Colombia.

Akmal and Haziq fared even worse, failing to even clear the round of 64 later in the afternoon.

The 21-year-old Akmal went down 6-0 to Juan Ignacio Rodriguez of Spain while Haziq also lost by the same margin to American Zach Garrett.

It was an embarrassing end for the three-man team, who were touted as one of the medal contributors in Rio.

In the team event, Malaysia were placed last in the 12-side ranking round. They then lost 6-2 to France in the round of 16.

Jae-hyung was surprised with the criticism levelled at the team.

“In archery, the surroundings play a very important role. We haven’t played in a terraced stadium where the wind is so unpredictable,” said the 53-year-old South Korean.

“In archery ranking is not important. South Korea’s Kim Woo-Jin broke the world record here in the team event and then lost in the round of 32 in the individual event.

“It’s an achievement for Malaysia to make it to the Olympics. Not many top archery countries made it here to Rio. India are one of the top 10 ranked countries and they failed to qualify.”

He added that Malaysia’s late qualification for the Olympics also affected their preparations.

Malaysia only qualified for Rio at the Final Qualification Tournament in Turkey in June.

“We had less than three months to prepare for the Games. That’s not enough to prepare for a big tournament,” he said.