Outstanding recurve shoot lands Ariana berth to Paris Olympics

Archery darling: Ariana Nur Dania (left) pulled off a major coup by winning the gold medal in the Asian Continental Qualifier Tournament to earn her spot to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

PETALING JAYA: Good things happen when you least expect it.

That was the case for archer Ariana Nur Dania Mohd Zairi as she demonstrated her potential as a rising star by pleasantly surprising everyone by qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The 18-year-old Ariana booked her berth in the Games after defeating Ziyodakhon Abdusattorova of Uzbekistan 7-3 to win gold in the women’s recurve individual event at the World Archery (WA) Asian Continental Qualifier Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand on Saturday.

The first-seeded Ariana enjoyed a bye in the first round and was on fire when she breezed through the second and third rounds after securing easy 6-0 and 6-2 wins over Mongolia’s Enkhtuya Altangerel and Aisha Jasim Alali of United Arab Emirates respectively.

Ariana maintained her fine form to beat Diya Siddique of Bangladesh 6-4 in the quarter-finals before edging Iran’s fifth seed Yasna Pourmahani 7-3 in the last four to set up a meeting with Abdusattorova in the final.

It was a sensational news as the national recurve archery team had been a flop during the Hangzhou Asian Games after firing blanks. Malaysia only won one bronze medal through the men’s compound team at the Games.

The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) president Tan Sri Norza Zakaria congratulated Ariana on OCM’s official social media.

“Congratulations to Ariana Nur Dania for qualifying for Paris 2024 on merit,” said Norza.

“Now we have a new talent in archery and we extend our best wishes to her in her preparation ahead of the Paris Olympics.”

Ariana’s impressive performance in the Asian meet will definitely boost the national squad after the sport was not featured in the Cambodia SEA Games and sinking into oblivion in the Asiad.

With the qualification of Ariana, Malaysia have four representatives in Paris on merit. The others are diver Bertrand Rhodict, sailor Nur Shazrin Latif, and shooter Johnathan Wong – who had secured their berths earlier.