National coach Lee Jae-hyung was happy that Chu Sian and the other men archers had made an impact in a tournament that saw the biggest number of competitors – from 35 countries – for a timely boost ahead of the London Olympics in August.
Chu Sian’s third place finish showed that Malaysia are on the right track to win the country’s first archery medal at the Games. It was his best showing in the World Cup after reaching the last four in the same leg of the series in 2007.
The Jakarta SEA Games double gold medallist, Chu Sian defeated Frenchman Thomas Aubert 6-5 (26-27, 27-27, 24-28, 29-22, 28-26, 8-8) in the bronze medal playoff. In the tie breaker, Chu Sian was declared the winner when his final arrow was judged closer to the centre.
Earlier, he overcame Poland’s top archer Novak Piotr with a convincing 7-1 (28-25, 29-25, 29-29, 26-25) win in the quarter-finals. An archer gets one point for a draw and two for a win in a best of three games format.
Chu Sian lost to the eventual champion Brady Ellison of United States in the semi-finals with a score of 2-6 (28-29, 29-28, 27-29, 27-30) in closely-fought match.
The men’s team of Chu Sian, Khairul Anuar Mohd, Haziq Kamaruddin did not go far in the team recurve but still won praise from their coach. They lost 222-224 to Taiwan in the opening round.
Malaysia eventually ended up as the 10th best team while the United States dominated the event by winning four gold medals.
While the men did justice in their trip to Shanghai, the women’s team of Nurul Syafiqah Hashim, Ng Sui Kim, Shahira Abdul Halim and Siti Rashida Kamar Bashah could not raise their game.
The Olympic-bound Nurul was the top performer when she reached the third round of the individual recurve while the other three members crashed out in the opening round. Malaysia did not qualify for the women’s team elimination round.
“This is a relatively a new team and they couldn’t adjust quickly to the cold. The women will be in full training for the next two to three weeks and we will work on their game and confidence,” Jae-hyung said.
The national team’s next assignment is the second leg of the World Cup in Turkey from May 1-6, followed by the final Olympic qualifiers at the third leg of the World Cup in Ogden, US, from June 18-24.
“I intend to keep the archers on their toes and will only name the final list for the Olympics after the final leg of the World Cup,” said Jae-hyung.
Malaysia have already earned Olympic berths for the men’s individual and team events as well as the women’s individual. They also aim to qualify for the women’s team event in Ogden.
THE STAR
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