Bring home the golds

Khairul and Juwaidi earn title shots at Asia Cup Stage 2

PETALING JAYA: The national archery team will get a crack at two of the four individual crowns at stake at the Asia Cup Stage 2 event in Bangkok today.

Former world No. 3 Khairul Anuar Mohamad (pic) is in the men’s recurve final while Mohd Juwaidi Mazuki earned his title shot in the men’s compound discipline.

Khairul appeared to have finally overcome his shoulder injury that had curtailed his progress in the past two years.

The one-time World Cup silver medallist was on target throughout the day – beating Kazakhstan’s Oibek Saidiyev 6-0, Russia’s Vitalii Popov (6-0), Indonesia’s Riau Ega (6-5) and another Kazakh Sultan Duzelbayev (7-1) on his way to set up a title clash against Deng Yu-cheng of Taiwan.

Khairul, an Asian Champion in 2011, will be bidding for his first individual crown since his gold medal feat at the 2013 Myanmar SEA Games.

Juwaidi is eyeing his first-ever international victory with world No. 23 Esmaeil Ebadi of Iran standing in his way.

Juwaidi has been in sensational form since the qualifying rounds. He shot 701 – just three points short of his own national record – to be seeded second and was Second round: rewarded with a first-round bye.

He opened his campaign with a 146-144 win over Vietnam’s Mai Xuan Duc before squeezing past Kazakhstan’s Sergey Khristich 10-8 on a one-arrow decider after they were tied at 140.

Juwaidi then outshot another Vietnamese, Nguyen Van Day, 144-141 in the last eight. In the semis, he defeated Russia’s Alexander Dambaev 145-142.

“My pre-tournament target was just to shoot above 700 during qualification and I’m so happy I did it,” said Juwaidi, who finished third in Bangkok last year.

“It was not bad considering we have not gone for any competitions since last September. I was quite nervous initially but was able to control my shooting form ... so eventually all went well.

“To win my first career title would be nice but I’m not desperate. Making the final is already an achievement.

“It’s more important to focus more on my shooting form than anything else.”

National team rookie M. Khambeswaran was the other high achiever of the day. He performed above expectations in his first international outing by reaching the last four before going down fighting 143-145 to Esmaiel.

He has a chance to win a bronze medal in a playoff against Dambaev today.