Archery squad has Olympic gold potential — Shabery

Posted on September 11, 2011, Sunday

KEMAMAN: The success of the national archery trio in qualifying for the team recurve final at the Archery World Cup in Shanghai is the best achievement ever in history of national archery, said Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek.

With the success, Ahmad Shabery said archery was being seen as a medal prospect at next year’s Olympic Games in London.

He said even though the national team lost to the United States 218-222 in the final this morning, the achievement was beyond expectation.

“It was truly amazing…even in defeat we can be proud because our opponent in the final was a formidable team,” he said. He was commenting on the success of Cheng Chu Sian, Khairul Anuar Mohamed and Wan Khalmizam Wan Abdul Aziz who qualified for the recurve team final at the Archery World Cup in Shanghai.

Ahmad Shabery, who was met by reporters at the Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Said’s Hari Raya open house here, also expressed his satisfaction with Khairul Anuar for giving his US opponent a good fight in the recurve individual event.

In the final, Khairul Anuar was tied 5-5 with his challenger before losing in a shootout.
“We will discuss with the National Sports Council (MSN) and the archery coach on what can be done to further improve the team’s performance,” he said.

Malaysia have qualified twice in World Cup Archery finals before this. In the 2009 final in Antalya, Turkey and 2008 in Boe, France, Malaysia were defeated by India and South Korea respectively. — Bernama