106 archers to fight for glory at archery carnival
KOTA KINABALU: Some 106 aspiring young archers will vie for honours at the Sabah State Archery Carnival which is happening at the archery range in Likas this weekend.
Sabah Archery Association deputy president Dzulkarnain Dzulkifli described the carnival as a one-of-a-kind event which is jointly organised for the first time with the Sabah Sports Council and Sabah Education Department.
“This is a big event and we are expecting a huge crowd with participants and supporters from all over Sabah.
“We are very excited about it and I think all the young participants are also very eager to show what they can do,” he said when contacted here yesterday.
Dzulkarnain, who is also the organising chairman, said there would be four main categories, namely the Men’s and Women’s Under20, Boys and Girls 13-15, Boys and Girls Under-12 and Compound Open.
“The Under-20 will shoot according to full FITA which is 90m, 70m, 60m and 30m for men and 70m, 60m, 50m and 30m for women. For ages 13-15, it will be 60m, 50m, 40m and 30m, while for the juniors (Under-12) it will be doubles 30m and doubles 25m.
“The Compound Open will shoot the same distances as the men’s under-20,” he said, while confirming that participants from eight districts are taking part, namely Kota Kinabalu, Papar, Ranau, Keningau, Sipitang, Lahad Datu, Tawau and Sandakan.
All entries are closed and despite overwhelming response, Dzulkarnain said organisers were forced to turn others away due to limited space.
“There are plenty more who are interested to join but unfortunately, we had to turn them away because we only have 15 lanes and 30 targets,” he said while revealing that, at the moment, they have exceeded their target of 80 entries.
Meanwhile, Dzulkarnain said the tournament is part of the SSA’s efforts to try and ensure Sabah defend their overall title in archery at the next Malaysia Games (Sukma).
“As we all know, Sabah were the overall winners in archery at the Sukma in Kuching, Sarawak last year. This is an effort to unearth new talents and to train the ones we have identified to have potential.
“If all goes well, we will be doing a Series 2 in Tawau sometime in October or November so that the young aspiring archers have another chance to compete,” he said.
For the record, Sabah bagged six gold and five silver medals to emerge as the biggest winner in archery at the Sukma in Kuching last year.