Archer Mon Redee first Malaysian in action

PETALING JAYA: Archer Mon Redee Sut Txi will be the first Malaysian to go into action in the Athens Olympics – in the qualifying round of the individual event at the Dek archery field tomorrow. 

Mon Redee, who is the first Malaysian in Olympic archery, is not expected to win a medal but it will be a golden experience for her to compete against the world’s best. 

In the qualifying round, the 64 men and women are required to shoot 72 arrows to determine their rankings to decide the draw for the elimination rounds, which will be held at the historic Panathinaikos Stadium. 

The women’s elimination rounds starts on Sunday and the men’s event begins a day later. 

BULL'S EYE: A member of the Greece female archery team (right) practise with other athletes at the Dekelia archery field in Athens in preparation for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.--AFPpic.

The National Sports Council (NSC) director of international preparations, Ahmad Shapawi Ismail, said in a telephone interview from Athens yesterday: “Mon Redee is acclimatising well to the conditions. 

“We hope that she will perform well in the qualifying round to avoid meeting the top ranked archers early on in the elimination rounds.” 

It has been a hard road for the Perak-born Mon Redee to reach her goal of representing the country in the Olympics. 

The 21-year-old Mon Redee did not start out in sports in archery.  

She was into hockey and represented Hulu Perak in the Under-15 competition. She was also into athletics. 

Four years after taking up archery, Mon Redee qualified for the Athens Games by finishing third in the Asian Championships last October. 

At the Vietnam SEA Games last December, she won two silver medals – in the Olympic round individual and team events. 

Yun Mi-jin, who won the women’s individual gold in Sydney, will start as the favourite in Athens. 

Meanwhile, Ahmad Shapawi said that 24 out of 26 athletes in the Malaysian contingent had arrived in Athens. 

Sprinter Nazmizan Mohd and walker Yuan Yu Fang were the latest to arrive yesterday. Cyclist Josiah Ng and taekwondo exponent Elaine Teoh are scheduled to arrive on Aug 17 and 18 respectively.