Rookies Haziq and Khairul determined to compete in the Olympics

Thursday July 14, 2011

By LIM TEIK HUAT


SEPANG: Newcomers Haziq Kamaruddin and Khairul Anuar Mohd, together with seasoned campaigner Cheng Chu Sian, worked hard at the World Championships in Turin to restore the confidence in Malaysian archery by earning a coveted spot for the team at next year’s London Olympics.

And now that coach Lee Jae-hyung is looking at guiding the team to a first-ever medal at the Olympics, the two youngsters have vowed to work hard to make sure they will be part of the team on the flight to London next year.

It’s amazing what Haziq, 18, and Khairul, 20, have achieved, considering the fact that they have only just joined the elite squad and have not even competed in the SEA Games.

Haziq also pulled off a shock win over former world champion Michele Frangilli of Italy. However, he was not able to build on it and was shown the exit in the third round of the individual competition together with Chu Sian and Khairul.

The archers returned home yesterday to a special reception organised by the National Archery Association of Malaysia and the National Sports Council (NSC) for emerging as the first Malaysian athletes to qualify for the London Olympics.

The burly Haziq, who hails from Skudai, Johor, is glad to have played his part in restoring confidence in the sport after being on the verge of elimination from the Road to London programme following their failure to contribute any medals at the Guangzhou Asian Games last year.

“The coach included us for the World Championships because we did well in the Asian Grand Prix in Laos earlier in the year,” said Haziq, who has been involved in archery for the last seven years.

“That was my first international assignment for the national team. I did not have high expectations of making it to the world meet because of my inexperience.

“Even after competing at the world meet, I still feel like I am lacking in experience compared to my senior (Chu Sian).

“The challenge for me now is to improve further. I want to keep my place in the squad until the Olympics.”

Khairul too is determined to hang on to his place in the elite squad.

“I was nervous at the start of the competition as it was my first time competing on such a big stage,” said Khairul, who is from Kemaman, Terengganu.

“The coach instructed us to remain calm and not worry about the outcome. Our target was to make the top 16 of the elimination rounds as that would give us a shot at making it to the Olympics.

“We could have qualified automatically but we lost the sudden-death shootout against France. It only fired us up to make amends.

“It is everyone’s dream to go to the Olympics and it’s mine too ... we stand a chance to win a medal like other countries.”

With only 12 teams competing at the London Olympics, a first ever medal in archery at the Olympics is no pipe-dream.

Malaysia only need to win two ties to go through to the medal rounds and Jae-hyung said “a medal is possible if we can finish in the top four during the qualifying round”.

“It is easier in the team compared to the individual. But there is a lot of hard work to be done to prepare the archers to shoot consistent scores and to be among the challengers,” said the Korean.