It’s not a total waste

Juwaidi and Co spare Malaysia the blushes with a bronze medal

PETALING JAYA: The trio of Muhd Juwaidi Mazuki, Khambeswaran Mohanaraja and Ruslan Zulfadhli saved the blushes for Malaysia by salvaging a bronze in the men’s compound team event at the Asia Cup Stage 2 archery championships in Thailand.

Juwaidi, Khambeswaran and Ruslan combined to overcome Singapore 232-227 in the bronze playoff to earn Malaysia’s only medal on the final day of competition in Bangkok yesterday.

Earlier in the semi-finals, Malaysia were beaten 230-232 by India.

The Malaysians, the 2015 Singapore SEA Games champions, had a first-round bye. They then edged Vietnam 230-228 to reach the last four.

In the men’s recurve team event, Haziq Kamaruddin, Khairul Anuar Mohamad and Muhammad Akmal Nor Hasrin were beaten 2-6 by third seeds India in the quarter-finals.

Malaysia were 6-0 winners over Bangladesh in the first round.

The women’s recurve team of Nur Afisa Abdul Halil, Nur Aliya Ghapar and Loke Shin Hui came agonisingly close to winning a medal before losing 4-5 to Vietnam in the bronze playoff.

Earlier, Malaysia beat Thailand and Russia by identical 6-2 margins to reach the semi-finals. But they were humiliated 0-6 by second seeds India in the battle for a berth in the final.

Malaysia finished the championships with three silvers and a bronze. On Friday, Malaysia won the men’s individual compound silver through Juwaidi and Khairul Anuar in the men’s individual recurve.

The other silver was won by Juwaidi and Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh in the mixed team compound event.