Only another high five will do for archers

KUALA LUMPUR: The national archers are targeting another high five at the Manila SEA Games in December.

Head coach Lee Jae-hyung, who recently extended his contract until 2012, said it will be difficult but not impossible to repeat the gold haul from the last two Games.

“We have a chance to get more but in archery it’s never a sure thing. Even getting five golds is 50-50,” said Jae-hyung.

“We made it to eight finals at the Kuala Lumpur Games (2017) but once you’re in the finals, the situation is very different.

“You have to remain composed, mentally focused and luck also plays a part as anything can happen.”

At the Singapore Games in 2015, Malaysia dominated the compound event with four out of five golds in the women’s individual, men’s team, women’s team and mixed team events. Their fifth gold came in the men’s team recurve.

In Kuala Lumpur, the archers took home the men’s and women’s recurve team golds and the men’s, women’s and mixed golds in the compound team event.

The archers’ first outing of the year will be at the Asia Cup in Bangkok from March 24-31.

They have not taken part in any tournament for six months and will be hungry for a competitive outing to gauge their ability against the best archers from Europe and Asia.

“After the Asian Games last year, most of the tournaments are indoors so the players are looking forward for some action. They’ve been working and training hard.

“To make sure we’re ready for Bangkok, we will hold some simulation competitions for the players.

“We haven’t set any target for the meet because they’ve not been competing. We just want them to get a feel of the competition.”