Fatin’s rare misfire costs Malaysian archers dearly

COMPOUND archer Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh

(pic) is a sharpshooter and hardly misses the mark.

But yesterday, the 27yearold shot a rare eight and it proved costly as she and Mohd Juwaidi Mazuki fell to a shocking 152153 defeat to Singapore’s Alan LeeContessa Loh in the first round of the mixed team event.

The twotime SEA Games gold medallists were two points behind after the first two ends of eight arrows at 7678 and needed a strong finish but Fatin fumbled.

While Juwaidi kept to his bargain by hitting two 10s, Fatin only managed 10 and 8 for a total score of 38.

The Singaporeans shot a 39 to widen their lead to 117114 but the threepoint gap proved too much to overcome for FatinJuwaidi as they were eventually beaten by a point in the final end.

Fatin was disappointed as she knew they had a chance for a medal after reaching the World Cup quarterfinals in Shanghai in May.

“It was my mistake and that one little error made all the difference,” said Fatin.

“I didn’t give up after that and fought until the last arrow but we were still short by one. It’s a good lesson.

“I don’t want to dwell too much on the defeat and will focus on the team event.”

Said a supportive Juwaidi: “Mistakes happen. Every archer is bound to have a bad day. “Unfortunately, it’s Fatin’s today.” The Malaysian mixed recurve pair of Khairul Anuar Mohamad and Nur Aliya Ghapar also failed to shine yesterday when they lost 26 (3636, 3440, 3838, 3238) to Vietnam’s Loc Thi DaoChu Duc Anh in the opening round.