TOKYO: Paralympic debutants S. Suresh and Wiro Julin got their archery campaign off to a good start when they recorded their season’s best scores in the ranking round.
Suresh, the 2019 world champion, ended the Open recurve qualifiers in 28th spot after posting 579 points yesterday.
The 28-year-old erased his previous best of 557 he recorded in the Czech Republic last month.
Meanwhile, Wiro scored 673 points in the Open compound qualifiers to better his previous mark of 646 points, which he had also recorded at the same tournament in the Czech Republic.
The 26-year-old ended in 26th spot out of 36 archers.
Wiro, who has a bye in the first round, will take on Bair Shigaev of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) in the second round today.
Suresh, meanwhile, will square off with Bato Tsydendorzhiev, also of RPC, in the first round on Sept 3.
Coach Marzuki Zakaria said he was satisfied with his charges’ performance as this was their maiden outing.
While admitting that the strong winds had affected their performance, Marzuki was quick to point out that the ranking positions were no guarantee of winning a medal.
“There were archers at the Olympic Games who were sent packing earlier (in the knockout rounds) despite performing well in the ranking round.
“I hope our archers can perform consistently in the knockout rounds. — Bernama
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