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Sunday February 22, 2009

Izzuddin fills third slot in recurve team

By LIM TEIK HUAT

PETALING JAYA: Olympian Marbawi Sulaiman and Nazrin Aizad Mat Nasir helped Malaysia qualify third behind Japan and India in the men’s recurve team event on Friday but both will not be in the squad when the actual competition starts in the opening leg of the Asian Archery Grand Prix in Bangkok tomorrow.

Instead national coach Lee Jae-hyung has opted for youngster Mohd Izzuddin Abdul Rahim to carry the challenge.

Izzuddin, who is from the national back-up squad and was placed fourth in the world junior championships in Mexico last year, was given the third slot and will join his more illustrious team-mates Wan Khalmizam Wan Abdul Aziz and Cheng Chu Sian in a bid to challenge for the team gold medal.

High expectations: Mohd Izzuddin will partner old hands Wan Khalmizan and Cheng Chu Sian at the Asian Archery Grand Prix in Bangkok Monday.

On Friday, the trio had a combined total of 1898 points after the qualifying round.

Nazrin chalked the best effort among the six Malaysian men recurve archers with 649, followed by Izzuddin on 645.

Marbawi shot 642 to finish ahead of three others — Arif Farhan Ibrahim Putra (14th — 637), Chu Sian (22nd — 629) and Khalmizam (24th — 624).

There was not much difference as Malaysia would still be placed third behind Japan (1957) and India (1975) if Nazrin and Marbawi were selected but the Korean coach wants to bank on the more experienced Chu Sian and Khalmizam to hold the fort in the team event.

Malaysian archers have a relatively better chance to hit the bull’s eye in the team competition compared to the individual event as indicated by their quarter-finals placing at the Beijing Olympics and the silver medal feat in the Asian Championships in Xian, China last year.

S. Anbarasi was the best placed Malaysian in the qualification round for the women’s recurve event when she finished sixth on 625 points.

Noor Aziera Taip was 13th on 612, followed by juniors Nur Amirah Mohamed (25th — 583) and Beatrice Wong (26th — 582).

Malaysia will be seeded fifth in the team event with a total qualifying score of 1820.

In the compound category, which is a non-Olympic event, there was a pleasant surprise when Malaysians took the top spots in the men’s and women’s categories after the respective qualifying rounds ended.

Lang Hon Keong was top in the men’s competition with 697 while Saritha Cham Nong led the field of 19 archers with 676.

Malaysia will be seeded top for the men’s team compound ahead of Vietnam with a total of 2,040 points.

The Malaysian women’s team, with a combined total of 1967, will take second spot behind India (1997).

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