Bronze thrill in Bangkok
Khairul stamps his mark in Asian Grand Prix
PETALING JAYA:
Young archer Khairul Anuar continued to stamp his mark on the international stage with a bronze in the individual men’s recurve at the Asian Grand Prix in Bangkok yesterday.
Khairul turned the tables on SEA Games gold medallist and team-mate Cheng Chu Sian with a 60 win to reach the semi-finals of the Olympic discipline but World Cup champion Romain Girouille of France proved too strong for the taking.
The 20-year-old Khairul, who only joined the national team last year, lost 1-7 but made amends in superb fashion by beating Spaniard Elias Cuesta 7-3 for the bronze.
The Frenchman went on to take the gold, beating India’s Champia Mangal Singh 6-5 in the final.
Khairul received a bye in the first round and cleared three successive hurdles to set up the allMalaysian quarter-final.
Haziq Kamarudin went as far as the third round before his campaign came to an end while three other Malaysians – Fazli Hisyam, Mohd Izzuddin Abdul Rahim and Arif Farhan Ibrahim Putra – exited in the early rounds.
Chu Sian had qualified tops ahead of two South Koreans with 674 points while Khairul was the second best Malaysian, placing ninth with 663 in the qualification rounds on Thursday.
Khairul had an amazing campaign as a rookie last year and helped the Malaysian team clinch the maximum quota of three spots for the London Olympics at the World Championships in Italy.
Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh settled for the silver for Malaysia with a 136-143 defeat by Myanmar’s Ngeain Aung in the women’s compound final.
Fatin cleared four earlier rounds to enter the final of the non-olympic discipline while none of the Malaysians in action reached the medal rounds in the women’s recurve and men’s compound.
The Asian Grand Prix is the first major outdoor tournament of the year with many of the top Asian and European teams present in Bangkok to get their first benchmarks for the Olympic year.
30 countries are participating this year and the team events start today.