Good start for archers Juwaidi and Fatin at universiade
PETALING JAYA: Malaysian compound archers Juwaidi Mazuki and Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh have made their presence felt early as the World University Games (Universiade) got under way in the South Korean city of Gwangju.
Juwaidi, who was part of the gold medal-winning team at the Singapore SEA Games last month, finished fourth in the men’s individual ranking round with 696 points behind Russia’s Alexandr Dambaev (700).
South Korean Kim Jong-ho topped the competition with a new meet record of 705, with team-mate Kim Tae-yoon just three points behind.
Zulfadhli Ruslan was the second best Malaysian on 17th spot with 681 points, while Cheng Feng Hay is ranked 54th on 340.
Singapore SEA Games triple gold medallist Fatin showed her potential to deliver a medal after finishing fifth in the women’s individual ranking round with 688 points.
Salinas Perea of Mexico shot a new meet record of 697 to lead the ranking round ahead of Slovenia’s Toja Cerne (696). Russia’s Natalia Avdeeva and South Korea’s Song Yun-soo are tied for third on 692.
Norhayati Al-Madihah Hashim finished 21st with 673 while the third Malaysian archer, Saritha Cham Nong was 33rd on 658.
Juwaidi and Fatin thus received first-round byes and will avoid the big names until the last 16.
Their combined scores of 1,384 also placed Malaysia fourth in the mixed team ranking round behind Mexico (1388), Russia (1392) and South Korea (1397).
Juwaidi and Fatin will advance straight into the last 16 to play aganst Iran today but the fourth seeds will face a stiff test in the quarter-finals as top seeds South Korea are likely to be lying in wait.
The 24- year- old Fatin, the Malaysian flag bearer in the opening ceremony on Friday, is hopeful of winning her first Universiade medal.
“This is my second appearance and I’m aiming to reach the medal rounds this time. This year has been good for me and I hope to carry the momentum from the SEA Games ... although the field here is something else. I won’t under-estimate anyone as the field is world class,” said Fatin, who combined with Saritha and Nor Rizah Ishak to win Malaysia’s first-ever World Cup title in Shanghai in May.
In diving, Kam Ling Kar and Jasmine Lai failed to make the cut for the women’s 1m springboard semi-finals.
Ling Kar just missed out in 14th spot with 233.90 points while Jasmine was placed 20th with 221.10 in the preliminaries.
Malaysia have never won a gold medal at the Universiade since its introduction in 1959 in Turin, Italy.
The best Malaysia have done was to win three silvers – through swimmer Jeffrey Ong (men’s 1,500m freestyle at the 1991 edition in Sheffield, England); taekwondo exponent Che Chew Chan (at the 2007 edition in Bangkok); and diver Pandelela Rinong (at the 2011 Games in Shenzhen).