Spotlight on women archers in World Cup series

KUALA LUMPUR: All eyes will be on the women’s archery team, led by Olympic-bound Nurul Syafiqah Hashim, for some signs of breakthrough in the opening leg of the World Cup series in Shanghai from April 10-15.

Malaysia are hoping to pull off a maximum archery representation at the London Olympic Games in August after having secured quota places in the men’s individual and team and women’s individual events.

It all now depends on Syafiqah and her team-mates – Ng Sui Kim, Shahira Abdul Halim and Siti Rashida Kamar Bashah – to show that they can make it an historic outing for Malaysia at this year’s Olympics.

National coach Lee Jae-hyung is hoping to see every one of them shoot an average score of 208-210 at the World Cup in Shanghai.

“Our women archers have been scoring an average of 208-210 in training but they have yet to reproduce that form in international tournaments.

“I hope they will rise to the occasion this time,” he said.

“This year’s World Cup sees a big leap in the number of entries as everyone is gearing up for the London Games. The competition will be brutal.

“It is quite hard for our women as all of them need to be consistent.”

The final pre-qualifier will be in Torino, Italy, from July 3-10, where all the archers will be out to grab the remaining tickets for the London Games.

Jae-hyung is also concerned with an external threat – the weather – as the women get ready for battle.

“We are leaving for Shanghai tomorrow.

“We will spend the next two days training there before the competition begins.

“The temperature is about 18°C. Cold wind can be a challenge. Our archers will have to make quick adjustments,” he said.

“Our goal is to get them into the top 16 elimination round. From there, they will have to brave all kind of challenges to register their personal best scores.”

The women will also be joined by their more successful men compatriots Cheng Chu Sian, Khairul Anuar Mohd, Haziq Kamaruddin and Mohd Fareez Rosli for the trip to Shanghai.

In February, the men kept Malaysia’s flag flying high at their opening tournament of the year when Khairul bagged a bronze medal in the men’s individual recurve event while the team reached the top eight in the Asian Grand Prix in Bangkok.

“This is my third Olympic Games with the national team and it will be great if we can have representatives in every event,” said Jaehyung.

But it will be an even greater achievement if they can nick the country’s first Olympic medal in a sport that is usually dominated by South Koreans.