LONDON, July 31 (Bernama) -- Young national archer Khairul Anuar Mohamad beat his more illustrious compatriot Cheng Chu Sian before edging a higher ranked Chinese archer to book a slot in the third round of the London Olympics men's Individual Recurve event here Tuesday.
In the event held at the Lord's Cricket Ground, Khairul Anuar collected 140 points while Chu Sian 137 in the first elimination round for 6-4 winning result and later maintained his superb form to beat Xing Yu of China 6-5 in a second elimination round shoot-off.
Both archers were forced into a shoot-off when they were tied 2-2 after five ends.
In the shoot-off, both hit the nine points mark but since the Malaysian's arrow was nearer to the 10-point line compared with the Chinese archer's arrow, Khairul was declared the winner.
The Malaysian will next face Larry Godfrey of Great Britain in the third round elimination on Friday.
Under the International Archery Federation's (FITA) new rules, winner of the competition is not only decided on how many arrows they shoot and score but the winner of each five ends will get an additional two points.
Khairul said in the match against Chu Sian, although he respected his senior, in such a high level of competition like the Olympics, only the best will prevail.
"Both of us train together and we know each other's performance well. But I guess I was more composed today," he told reporters after the competition. After winning the first round, I was more confident with myself. Though the Chinese is at world no 13 and I'm 20, I knew I could beat him," said Khairul.
On his third round elimination match against Briton's Godfrey, Khairul said he would need to be more focused as the archer from the host country would have a lot of support from the crowd.
Chief-de-Mission Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid who was at the venue said Khairul had a competitive edge today and looked more composed compared with the men's team event.
"But he must be very focused and not distracted by the vocal support from local supporters, especially so since he will be facing a local archer on Friday," he said.
From Zulhilmi Supaat -- BERNAMA
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