Golden day for Malaysia at archery range
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia won their second and third gold medals today through the women’s and men’s team compound archery events at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games (KL2017).
Both the teams thus defended the gold medals they won in Singapore in 2015.
The Malaysian women’s team lifted the gold yesterday after edging Vietnam 253-252 in the nail-biting encounter at the Synthetic Field, National Sports Council in Bukit Jalil here.
The Malaysian men’s compound archery team then added another gold after beating Singapore 228-222.
Malaysia took its first gold medal in the 29th SEA Games through the men’s chinlone squad in the event 3 (linking) on Wednesday.
The national women’s team in the final event comprised Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh, Nurul Syazhera Mohd Asmi and Saritha Cham Nong while Vietnam was represented by Chau Kieu Oanh, Le Ngoc Huyen and Thi Nha Le Nguyen.
Malaysia emerged as the winner when Saritha collected the full 10 points in the shootoff after both teams were tied at 225.
“At that time, I only thought of what the coach had told us and the support from my team mates,” she told the media after the conclusion of the match.
Fatin Nurfatehah and Nurul Syazhera meanwhile were grateful that all the efforts made during training had been fruitful on the day of the competition.
The bronze medal for the event went to Indonesia who beat Thailand 225-222.
Malaysia, who received a bye in the quarter-finals, beat Thailand 227-219 to proceed to the final against Vietnam.
The men’s compound squad comprising Mohd Juwaidi Mazuki, Zulfadhli Ruslan and Lee Kin Lip beat Ang Han Teng, Lee Chung Hee and Pang Toh Jin from Singapore.
Mohd Juwaidi said their shots were quite good but there was a slight feeling of nervousness as the situation during training was slightly different from competition day.
“Usually during training, getting 10 points is normal, during competition however it is usual to score eight or nine points. The condition at the competition ground is rather tense.” Mohd Juwaidi told reporters.
The bronze medal for the event went to the Philippines who beat Vietnam 233-230.
In the quarter-finals, Malaysia beat Laos 234-205 to proceed to the semi-finals against Vietnam and eventually won 29-27 after being tied at 227, to proceed to the final.
The compound archers hoped to grab the gold medal in the compound mixed team event which would be participated by Mohd Juwaidi and Fatin Nurfatehah tomorrow.
On Wednesday, the national archery squad won a silver medal through Mohd Juwaidi in the men’s individual compound event and bronze medal through Fatin Nurfatehah in the women’s individual compound.