KUCHING, Sept 28 (Bernama) -- The Para Malaysia Games (Para SUKMA) 2024 archery competition over five days ends today with two national records broken at the Petra Jaya Archery Range, here.
National archery head coach Marzuki Zakaria said the Para SUKMA this time saw improved performance by young and women athletes, with his side successfully identifying some new talents to be honed.
"For example, the Pahang archery squad improved the national record of 2013, which is a high achievement for archers, so we will try to feature some identified names at bigger tournaments.
"Preparation towards the elite is a bit far but we will start at the national level, because we know the SUKMA archers, although they are good, there are still many shortcomings in terms of technique and skills that still need to be improved. We will make the appropriate plans to bring them to a higher level," he told Bernama.
The SUKMA archery competition this time saw Pahang emerge as the best contingent after collecting five gold, one silver and one bronze from the 14 gold on offer, followed by Perak (4-3-3) and Kuala Lumpur (2-1-2).
Among those who stole the spotlight was the Pahang women recurve archer, Loh Chi Hui who won four golds, besides breaking the national record in the women's individual event (70 metres (m) with 574 points in the qualifying round, surpassing the record of 504 points by Nor Sa'adah Abdul Wahab at the 2013 World Archery Championships in Bangkok.
Apart from that, Chi Hui's combined points with Ahmad Jaffri Jamaluddin (1,153) also surpassed the national record for a mixed team held by S. Suresh and Jennyla Kueh (1,093 points) set in 2019, in addition to winning gold in the women's individual and women's team event with Nurfatin Afifah Mohamed Sa'ari.
Also stealing the spotlight was Perak representative, Nurul Farha Abdul Hamid who won four gold medals in the compound discipline.
-- BERNAMA
