Archers unable to overcome South Korea in world meet

PETALING JAYA: The national men’s recurve team have equalled their best achievement at the World Archery Championships by reaching the quarter-finals in Mexico City.

Khairul Anuar Mohamed, Haziq Kamaruddin and Muhd Akmal Nor Hasrin then tried to make the last four for the first time but were stopped by world No. 1 and Olympic champions South Korea on Tuesday.

Im Dong-hyun, Kim Woo-jin and Oh Jinhyek were just too good as they strolled to a 5-1 win (53-52, 57-56, 55-55).

Earlier, Malaysia had beaten Mexico in the last 16 by the slimmest of margins.

Both teams shot 26-26 in the shootoff, but Malaysia were declared the winners after Akmal’s last arrow was deemed nearest to the target. Malaysia won 5-4.

It was Malaysia’s second win over Mexico this year – having beaten the world No. 10 in the bronze medal playoff at the World Cup in Salt Lake City, the United States, in June.

The only other time Malaysia made it to the last eight of the World Championships was in Madrid, Spain, in 2005. Malaysia were then represented by Cheng Chu Sian, Marbawi Sulaiman and Wan Khalmizam Wan Abdul Aziz.

Haziq had no complaints about being ousted in the quarter-finals.

“We’re very satisfied. We gave the Koreans a run for their money before bowing out,” said Haziq.

“Khairul and I have competed in the World Championships since 2011, but this is the first time we made it this far. In 2011 and 2013, we lost in the first round and we failed to even qualify for the knockout stage in 2015.”

The Malaysian women’s recurve side as well as the men and women’s compound teams – all SEA Games champions – failed to make the top 16 cut in the ranking rounds on Monday.

The tournament resumes with the individual events.