Triumphant Recurve Team Dedicate Gold To Coach Jae-hyung

JAKARTA: Burly Haziq Kamaruddin is the youngest archer in the team but he turned in a solid performance to help Malaysia regain their status as the best men’s archery team in the region.

On a hot and stuffy day, the 18-year-old Haziq, Cheng Chu Sian and Khairul Anuar Mohd were on fire to beat arch-rivals Thailand 219-215 in the men’s recurve team final at the Archery Range in Senayan yesterday.

Malaysia won the team title at the 2007 Korat Games but lost to Thailand in Laos two years ago.

All eyes: (from left) Khairul Anwar Mohd, Cheng Chu Sian and Haziq Kamaruddin in action in the recurve team final yesterday. Malaysia bagged the gold with a 219-215 win over Thailand.

Malaysia also won a bronze through the women’s team of Nurul Syafiqah Hashim, Shahira Abdul Halim and Nur Amirah Mohd.

The London Olympics-bound men’s team dedicated their win to Lee Jae-hyung, who was celebrating his 10th year as chief coach of the national team.

“This is for our coach. I may be new to the team but he has given me a lot of confidence to excel in the sport,” said a beaming Haziq, who is from Johor.

“I was roped into the senior squad early this year. This is my first SEA Games and I am the least experienced, but I did not give in to nerves. It feels good to be able to complement the team well.”

Chu Sian, who needed a quick massage from Jae-hyung to loosen up his stiff muscles before walking into the battleground, was overjoyed with his second gold of the Games, having pocketed the individual title two days ago.

“We did what we were supposed to do – win the team gold. We have restored our pride with this win over Thailand. I am happy that both first timers Haziq and Khairul did well,” said Chu Sian.

Chu Sian now stands a chance to become the biggest medal winner in archery when he competes in the mixed pair event with Nurul Syafiqah today.

“Honestly, we have not trained together. This is a new event in the Games. Hopefully, we will be able to complement each other well,” said Chu Sian.

Jae-hyung, who was appointed national coach on Jan 5, 2001, was beaming with pride over the men’s victory.

“I had one archer, Lim Geok Pong, on the first day of my job 10 years ago. Now, I am proud to see our archers winning glory for Malaysia. This team of men archers are the best – even better than those who qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games,” he said.

“I hope they will also win medals in the Olympic Games and Asian Games.”

Malaysia have never failed to win an archery gold medal in the SEA Games since Jae-hyung’s arrival. It began with two gold medals – men’s individual and team events – at Vietnam 2003, followed by one in Manila 2005, two in Korat 2007 and one in Laos 2009.