Archery athletes depart early for familiarisation purposes

KUALA LUMPUR: The country’s compound archery squad took the initiative to go early to the 2018 Asian Games even though the qualifying stage of the sport will only take place on Aug 21.

The Malaysian men’s compound archer, Mohd Juwaidi Mazuki, said the approach was taken by him and the team to fully adapt to the condition and environment at the Games that would be used as a preparation to showcase the best action.

“We take the positive angle to arrive early and practice early in order to familiarise with the training ground there to be an advantage to us.

“There is not much difference when in action here (Malaysia) in terms of weather but every field, movement and wind readings should be taken into account, where they are clearly different. We want to know the movements of the wind in the morning and evening so that we can balance the situation, “he said when met by Bernama while undergoing training yesterday.

In action for the men’s team, Juwaidi together with Zulfadhli Ruslan, Lee Kin Lip and Alang Ariff Aqil Muhammad Ghazalli would be leaving for Jakarta today together with the compound and recurve squads.

Meanwhile, woman compound archer Fatin Nurfateha Mat Salleh who was still fresh with the SEA Games 2017’s success was expecting a miracle on her debut and her team in the Asian Games series this time.

“We have reached the 90 per cent level in our preparation. But I hope with the high spirit we have we can do it, and if luck is on our side, there will be podium positions in hand.

“On paper, South Korea, Chinese Taipei and India will be the focus to go on the podium but the compatibility of the team is gaining perfection and we will try to do our best,” he said.

Fatin Nurfateha would be with Nurul Syazhera Mohd Asmi, Sazatul Nadhirah Zakaria and Saritha Cham Nong in shouldering the task.

The compound archery sport was initially not contested at the Asian Games, but the organisers made a surprise re-listing it, but by only having the men’s team, women’s teams and mixed events, without individual events. - Bernama