National women’s recurve coach Arif Farhan Ibrahim Putra was all smiles after seeing Ku Nurin Afiqah Ku Ruzaini, Ariana Nur Diana Zairi and Joey Tan win the women’s team bronze medal at the Asian Archery Championships in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Tuesday.
The Malaysian trio also broke the Asian Under-21 record in the qualifying round on Sunday with a total of 1,943 points, surpassing the previous mark of 1,912. Their strong showing earned them a first round bye.
In the quarter-finals, Ku Nurin, Ariana and Joey outclassed Vietnam 6-0.
However, in the last four, they came up against South Korea — the dominant force in world archery — and fell 6-2 despite a spirited display.
That defeat sent them into the bronze medal playoff, where they redeemed themselves with a 6-0 win over Uzbekistan, to secure a podium finish for Malaysia.
Arif said he was pleased with the consistency shown by his team throughout the tournament, especially during the bronze medal match.
“For the bronze medal match, we maintained a consistent score, averaging around 55 to 56 points per end,” said Arif.
“That’s a strong score at the international level, and it’s the reason we managed to win comfortably.”
On the Korea match, Arif said: “We gave them a good fight. We managed to win one set, which shows that we can challenge a powerhouse like Korea. Even though we lost, the girls learned a lot from that match, and it was a big step forward for us.”
Arif added that the team’s overall showing in Dhaka was a timely boost ahead of next month’s SEA Games in Thailand.
