National archers gears up for wind in Terengganu

KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 (Bernama) -- The national archery squad will be leaving for Kuala Terengganu tomorrow, in their preparation for the upcoming 2019 World Archery Championships at Hertogenbosch, Holland from June 10-16, which will serve as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifier.

National head coach, Lee Jae-hyung said the training will be held at Sultan Zainal Abidin University (UnisZA) field as the simulation ground for the World Championship's real venue which is located near the sea with a windy and cool atmosphere.

"In Malaysia, we have difficulties in finding a cool place so we choose Terengganu to hold the simulation training for 10 days to adapt to the windy condition. After that, we will return to Kuala Lumpur for a week before leaving for Holland," he told reporters after the Working Committee Meeting for archery, here today.

"We don't want to be in Holland too early to be exposed to the cold weather. It is sufficient to acclimatise to the weather before we get down to the competition,” said Lee, adding that the squad will be leaving for Holland on the second day of Hari Raya celebration on June 6.

A total of 12 national archers will compete at the World Archery Championships and the recurve events would be represented by Khairul Anuar Mohamad, Muhammad Akmal Norhasrin and Muhamad Zarif Syahir while Nur Aliya Ghapar, Nur Afisa Abdul Halil and Loke Shin Hui are for the women category.

Mohd Juwaidi Mazuki, Zulfadhli Ruslan and Syahrizan Jafar will compete in the men's compound events, while Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh, Iman Aisyah Norazam and Nur Aina Yasmine Halim will compete in the women's event.

The National Archery Association of Malaysia (NAAM) honorary secretary Datuk Abdul Hamid Hasan said the initial target in the world championships was to qualify for men's individual recurve and the team events, as well as the women's team event.

"Only recurve events are contested at the Olympics and we have qualified for the Games (in men's events) for four times and this time we will try to qualify for the women's team event," said Abdul Hamid, adding that for team qualification, the eight best teams will qualify for the Olympics and automatically, the three archers in the team will qualify in individual events.

-- BERNAMA