Bright future for Sibu archers — Former state coach
SIBU: Former Sarawak Sports Council (MSNS) head coach for archery Chong Yap Lee foresees a bright future for archers from Sibu Division.
He commended the Sibu Division Archery Association (SDAA) for its effort in the past five years to uplift the standard of the sport here.
“We are seeing results nowadays and I am confident that, in time to come, Sibu will be able to produce top-notch players of state and national calibre,” he said.
Chong was speaking to reporters after overseeing a practice session of Sibu players picked for the ongoing 14th Sarawak Archery Indoor Championship held in Kapit from Nov 29 to Dec 2.
Also present with Chong were SDAA secretary cum coach Eric Tiong and MSNS Sibu officer-incharge Hii King Hung.
The six players selected to represent Sibu - Berg Usry Suhaili, Ayub Sabi, Achmaed Lkhalifh Alamein, Wan Affandy, Desmond Ho and Liu Shiuh Heng - are entered for both the team and individual events in Kapit.
Chong did not rule out the possibility of the Sibu players winning some medals at the state championship.
“It’s not easy but based on the track records of the six players shortlisted, I believe they do stand a chance,” he observed.
Chong is into his second stint as Thailand’s national coach of Thailand.
He was national coach for Saudi Arabia for about a year since Aug 2017.
On the local scene he believes the sport is set to take off in Sibu which he said “is never known to have produce any good archers until after 2015 when SDAA really get serious with the sport.”
In comparison, he noted that Miri started earlier and already produced 10 of the 16 state archers in the most recent Sukma.
“But with the latest development programme embarked by SDAA, in collaboration with MSNS Sibu, I believe it will not be long before Sibu can produce some good archers,” said Chong who is from Lawas.
Meanwhile, Hii said Sibu have two archery training centres, one at Bukit Lima School and the other located next to RH Building at Jalan Lanang.
“Of course, there are other private archery range that also aim at producing good archers. Still, we would encourage them to come to these two centres to do their training and shooting practice.”
The training session is on Wednesday from 4 to 6pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 6pm.