M’sia miss out on gold on opening day of archery

KUALA LUMPUR: The national archery squad delivered a silver and a bronze on the opening day of archery in the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games (KL2017) at the National Sports Council Synthetic Turf Field, KL Sports City here yesterday.

The silver was won in the men’s individual compound by Mohd Juwaidi Mazuki while Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh secured the bronze in the women’s category of the same event.

However, in the qualifying round, Fatin Nurfatehah rewrote her own national record of 695 points and SEA Games record of 686 points belonging to Myanmar’s Aung Ngeain when she amassed 696 points. Mohd Juwaidi, when met by reporters afterwards, said that he missed out on the gold because he was thinking too much about winning.

“I admit that in the shootout I had a slight problem because I was over-focused on winning. However, I am satisfied with my performance today because it was better than in the last edition in Singapore when I won the bronze. In the team compound tomorrow, we aim to do better,” he said.

Mohd Juwaidi lost narrowly to Indonesia’s Prima Wisnu Wardhana with the final score standing at 145-144.

Paul Marton Dela Cruz of the Philippines beat Malaysia’s Zulfadhli Ruslan for the bronze (154-153). Fatin Nurfatehah , who was a gold medal prospect, lost to Chau Kieu Oonh of Vietnam 142-145 in the semi-finals.

This forced her to be up against Indonesia’s Dellie Threesyadinda for the bronze shoot-off and she prevailed, winning 143-141.

“It was a close fight with Chau Kieu Oanh. The defeat cost me my chance to defend the gold medal that I won in Singapore. I apologise to all Malaysians at not winning the gold and hope we will make amends in the team event tomorrow,” she said, adding that it would nice to present the gold medal to her mother who had come all the way from Kota Kinabalu to give moral support.

Indonesia’s Sri Ranti beat Chau Kieu Oanh 144-143 to pick up the gold. – Bernama