Yap Lee (second from right) with other officials inspect the finishing touches to the preparation of the 17 target butts for the 10th Sarawak Indoor Archery championship.
SIBU: A total of 137 archers making up 17 teams are competing for prizes in the 3-day 10th Sarawak Indoor Archery Championship at Catholic High School which begins today.
One of the teams is the 6-strong squad of Thailand national team.
The others include two novice archery teams from Selangor, teams from Malacca and Kelantan.
On the home front, the participants include PEMASA members from Kuching, Sibu, Sarikei, Bintulu, Limbang and Lawas.
Word Archery coach consultant Chong Yap Lee has expressed surprise over the huge number of novice archers taking part
“Out of 137 archers, about 50 are novice,” he told reporters after inspecting the preparation of the 17 target butts at the competition venue yesterday.
With him included Sarawak Archery Association (PEMASA) secretary-general Chong Yap Jin and event organising chairman Eric Tiong, who is also Sibu Archery Association vice chairman.
Yap Lee, who currently works as the coach for the Thailand national team, was happy to have brought along his men’s team for the championship. His team is taking part in the Men’s Recurve and Compound Bow. “I would be happy if the Thai national women archers also come here for the championship but due to some unforeseen circumstances, they could not make it,” he added.
After the championship, he will fly back to Bangkok to help assemble the Thai national team for selection for next year’s SEA Games.
Meanwhile, Yap Lee said the three-day competition would include team, individual elimination rounds and gold medals matches.
It is divided into six categories – Men’s and Women’s Recurve Bow, Compound Bow and Novice.
The top three winners in the individual and team categories, with the exception of the novice category, will receive medals.
A separate cash prize of RM1,000 will be awarded to the first archer who hit 300 points out of 30 arrows in the 1st and 2nd half of the qualification round.
Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing Challenge Cup will also be given to the team collecting the highest total points in all the team events.
Meanwhile, Second Finance Minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh is expected to grace the opening at 4pm today while Nangka assemblyman Dr Annuar Rapaee is expected to officiate at the closing ceremony on Nov 24, also at 4pm.