Ikram struggles in Salt Lake

IKRAM Joni needs a good performance in the knockout stage of the World Cup in Salt Lake City, Utah to convince the National Archery Association of Malaysia (NAAM) he deserves a spot in the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games.

The 21-year-old recurve archer hardly did his cause any good after struggling to 62nd place in Wednesday's qualifying round, shooting 635 points to finish worst among the four Malaysian archers in the competition.

After winning the team gold at the 2015 Sea Games in Singapore, Ikram is in danger of losing his place in the squad to Zharif Syahir, the Southeast Asian Championships winner.

Ikram has been drawn to face Sanzhar Mussayev of Kazakhstan in the first round with the winner to face Chilean 14th seed Ricardo Soto in the second round.

Khairul Anuar Mohamad scored 660 points to become the leading Malaysian in 13th place and earned a bye to the second round, where he awaits the winner of the clash between Colombia's Andres Pila and Denis Gankin of Kazakhstan.

Akmal Nor Hasrin, who ended qualifying in 37th with 648 points, opens against Canada's Brandon Xuerub while Haziq Kamaruddin meets Pit Klein of Luxembourg after coming in 57th on 640 points.

South Korean Im Dong-hyun led all the qualifiers with 680 points after shooting 72 arrows, a point ahead of compatriot Kim Woo-jin and Taiwan's Wei Chun-Heng.

In the team event, the combined scores of Khairul, Haziq and Akmal saw Malaysia finished 13th on 1,948 points for a meeting with the United States in the first round.

The American team boast fourtime World Cup individual winner Brady Ellison and Jake Kaminski, who both helped the US win team silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Following the tournament, NAAM will meet with the National Sports Council on Wednesday to decide whether to include Ikram for the Sea Games in August. Devinder Singh