S’wak line-up in February

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Centres statewide will be involved in picking cream of archery for Sukma XIII

KUCHING: The state Sukma XIII archery squad will be finalised after one more qualifying round in February.

EXPERT HELP: Cubilla watches as his charges (from left) Herman Ivan Howard, Ezri Mukriz Suhardi and Nur Atiqah Abdul Taib undergo their training. • Photo by Davidson Kho

EXPERT HELP: Cubilla watches as his charges (from left) Herman Ivan Howard, Ezri Mukriz Suhardi and Nur Atiqah Abdul Taib undergo their training. • Photo by Davidson Kho

State coach Christian Cubilla said the final trial would be held at the training centres statewide to pick archers for the biennial Games in Melaka from May 29 to June 8.

“During my visits to the training centres, I found many archers with the potential to represent the state,” he said here yesterday.

Cubilla, 32, from Quezon City, Luzon, the Philippines, said the qualifying round would also be used to select archers for the Malaysian Schools Sports Council Championship in March during the first-term school holidays.

“After selection of the Sukma squad, I’m hoping for centralised training to be held in Kuching which has indoor and outdoor facilities.

“Moreover, it will be easier for us to present our problems to Sarawak State Sports Council (MSNS),” he added.

Cubilla, who took up the sport in 1994, made the Philippines national team in 1997 and represented his country until 2008.

He also helped with the national development programme.

“In fact, the national sports body had asked me to represent the Philippines in the SEA Games in Vientiane, Laos last December, but due to my work commitment here, I had to decline the call-up,” he said.

Cubilla has represented the Philippines in the SEA Games, Asian Games, Asia Cup and World Championship.

He was the national champion in the individual recurve in 2008 before coming to Sarawak to take up a coaching job last August.

Cubilla is also the first foreign coach to be hired by MSNS to look after the state’s elite archers.

Before that, the state team were coached for 15 years by Abdul Razak Yaccob. He left three years ago to coach in his own state Terengganu.

According to Cubilla, archery was more developed in the Philippines because it was included in the co-curriculum and schools had their own academies.

Cubilla, who has signed a two-year contract with MSNS, said his priority would be preparing the archers for Sukma XIII.

Under his charge presently are six boys and two girls in Kuching who are potential Sukma material.

“They are good in following instructions and communication is not a problem as they speak English.

“They are fast learners, highly disciplined and committed to training which is from 3pm to 6pm daily at the outdoor training ground besides the Sarawak Stadium,” he said.