Sukma coach confident young archers can deliver

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(From left) Kho, Faiq and three other archers before a training session in Petra Jaya recently.

KUCHING: State archery head coach Abdul Razak Yaacob will be using the Sarawak Schools Sports Council (MSSS) Archery Championship in Bintulu from April 20-26 as a selection ground for the Sukma shadow team.

He is on the lookout for eight more archers to complete the squad of 24 archers which will be trimmed eventually to 16.

Razak said when met at a recent training session in Petra Jaya that his initial plan to use the state championship in Lawas for this purpose could not materialse as many local athletes did not take part. According to him, the Lawas meet did serve as a useful outing for 18-year old Awang Mohamad Faiq Yazin Adam and 16-year old Kho Yee Ting.

Both had contributed two silver medals each at last year’s Sukma.

“Faiq and Kho are our top bets to capture four gold medals in the recurve for Sukma 2016 in Sarawak,” he said.

“The performance of the two archers has improved greatly and I am confident they can help Sarawak win the gold medals that we are targeting for,” he added.

Razak disclosed that there are also plans to field Fiaq, Kho and others in the International Open Championship at Universiti Utara Malaysia from April 14-19 which would feature some national archers.

Currently, those in the Sukma shadow team are Abang Haikal Rusyadi Amnah, Mohd Jaris Shahrul Nizam, Ezhar Kaulani Jemain and Zaid Osman for men’s recurve, Wan Farrah Aina Wan Ahmadi, Angeline Phang, Nurazwa Nabilah Mazlan, Cheryl Rudang Goh Pei Loke in the women’s recurve and Mohd Haziq Halim, Emir Hidayat Soedirman and Chio Chung Yin in men’s compound.

Razak remains confident that the young archers can deliver Sarawak’s target of four of the 24 gold medals at stake in the 2016 Sukma.

“Almost 80 per cent of the squad are new faces and they are inexperienced and need exposure,” he said.

“I also believe that they can spring some surprises as well as win medals for the Sarawak contingent.”

Razak, coached the state team from 1990 to 2007 during which Sarawak emerged overall winners for archery at the 1994, 1996 and 2006 Sukma.