Rookie creates history by reaching recurve final in World Cup

(we are so proud of you)

Friday September 9, 2011
Rookie creates history by reaching recurve final in World Cup
By LIM TEIK HUAT


PETALING JAYA: Rookie Khairul Anuar Mohamad turned giant-killer en route to becoming the first Malaysian archer to reach the individual recurve final at the World Cup in Shanghai yesterday.

The 20-year-old made a major breakthrough for Malaysian archery when he advanced to the semi-finals after edging American Jake Kaminski 6-5.

It was a thrilling quarter-final showdown as the 16th-seeded Malaysian had to claw his way back from a 0-4 deficit against the ninth-seeded American after the first two sets.

Kaminski dropped the third set when he shot a 6 and Khairul eventually fought back to tie the match at 5-5.

In the shoot-off, Kaminski shot a 10 but Khairul went one better – with an X10 (his arrow was closest to the centre).

Khairul, his confidence boosted, then guaranteed at least a silver medal by reaching the final with a 7-1 win over Pedro Vivas Alcala of Mexico.

Earlier, Khairul started well with a 7-3 win over Antti Tekoniemen of Finland before reaching the last 16 by beating Das Atanu of India 7-3.

Khairul then rose to the occasion to eliminate top seed Brady Ellison of the United States 6-4 to reach the last eight, where he vanquished Kaminski.

Khairul, who only made the national elite squad early this year, will be delighted to have reached the final in his very first attempt, a feat which even the likes of national No. 1 Cheng Chu Sian have failed to achieve.

Chu Sian’s best result was reaching the last eight at the World Cup level.

National coach Lee Jae-hyung was proud of the performance put up by Khairul, who did not succumb to big-stage nerves.

“There were very tense moments in the knockout rounds, especially under this new format (five sets of three arrows at 70m).

“Khairul showed his ability to challenge the world class archers and it was a superb showing, considering this is his first World Cup,” said Jae-hyung, who will be hoping that Khairul will cap it off with a historic victory against American Joe Fanchin in tomorrow’s final.

Chu Sian was unlucky not to have advanced to the last 16 after he was beaten 6-5 by Kaminski. Chu Sian had won his opening match 7-3 against Stephen Florence of New Zealand.

Two other Malaysians – Haziq Kamaruddin and Wan Khalmizam Wan Abdul Aziz – failed to even get past their opening hurdles.

Haziq lost 6-0 to Hidechi Kikuchi of Japan while Khalmizam also lost by a similar score to Jean-Charles Valladont of France.

Khairul, Chu Sian and Wan Khalmizam will return for the team competition today against Britain in the first round and the winners will advance to a quarter-final clash against China, who have an opening round bye.