Jae-hyung happy Khairul’s slowly finding his form again

PETALING JAYA: National archer Khairul Anuar Mohamad’s (pic) return to form has put the smile back on the face of head coach Lee Jaehyung.

The men’s recurve team can’t afford another slip-up in the Jakarta Asian Games from Aug 18-Sept 2 after they flopped miserably at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games two years ago.

Malaysia won the silver medal in the team event at the Incheon Asiad four years ago.

And as part of the Podium Programme, they are expected to finish no less than on the podium.

Jae-hyung believes the goal can be accomplished with Khairul getting back to his very best.

At the second leg of the World Cup in Antalya, Turkey, Khairul made it into the semi-finals before missing out on the bronze medal after losing to 2012 London Olympics champion Oh Jin-hyek of South Korea last week.

It was his best individual outing in the prestigious series in four years.

Khairul also combined with Muhd Akmal Nor Hasrin and Muhd Zarif Syahiir Zolkepeli to finish a creditable fourth place in the team event.

“Khairul is slowly finding his way back to his old self,” said Jae-hyung, who transformed Malaysia into a force to reckoned be with since he arrived in 2001.

“He might have narrowly missed out on the podium twice but it’s okay.

“All that matters is peaking at the Asian Games.

“He was just superb from the ranking round by shooting a season-best score of 675 (out of possible 720).

“That’s just three points off his career-best total.

“His good form is surely going to boost the team.”

Khairul enjoyed his best years from 2011 to 2014 where he won three World Cup silver medals, claimed two golds at the 2011 Asian Championships in Iran and reached the 2012 London Olympics quarter-finals.

He was even ranked world No. 3 at one stage before a nagging shoulder injury curtailed his progress. Since then, Khairul could no longer even win an individual event at SEA Games level. He failed to win a third straight gold in Singapore in 2015 and came up short in Kuala Lumpur last year.

Jae-hyung was also delighted with his team’s overall progress ahead of the Jakarta Games.

World No. 17 Akmal has been consistent while the 19-year-old Zarif, who was promoted to the main squad only last year, is starting to threaten two- time Olympian Haziq Kamaruddin’s place as the national No. 3.

“Our team are more stable as each member has improved individually. It’s definitely all positive at the moment,” said Jae-hyung.