KUALA LUMPUR: Like their male counterparts, the national women’s recurve archery team have also missed their chance of qualifying for next month’s Tokyo Olympics.
The trio of Syaqiera Mashayikh, Nurul Azreena Mohamad Fazil and Nur Ain Ayuni Fozi were eliminated as early as in the first round by Brazil in the 2020 Olympic Games Qualifiers in Paris, France today, according to website worldarchery.sport.
The national women’s archery team were no match for their South American rivals, comprising Ane Marcelle Dos Santos, Sarah Nikitin dan Ana Luiza Sliachticas Caetano, who won 6-2 to move into the second round.
Only three spots are up for grabs from the Paris meet, which happens to be the last Olympic qualifier.
So far, nine women’s recurve teams have qualified for the July 23-Aug 8 Tokyo Olympics, namely Belarus, China, Taiwan, Britain, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Russia and Ukraine.
Yesterday, the national men’s recurve team of Khairul Anuar Mohamad, Muhamad Zarif Syahiir Zolkepeli and Muhammad Akmal Nor Hasrin bowed out in the quarter-finals after going down 6-2 to Ukraine’s trio of Oleksii Hunbin, Heorhiy Ivanytskyy dan Ivan Kozhokar.
The United States, Indonesia and France took the last three spots for the men’s recurve event in Tokyo, joining already-qualified Australia, China, Taiwan, Britain, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea and the Netherlands.
Khairul Anuar had earlier confirmed his ticket to the Olympics by winning a silver at the World Archery Championships in Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands in June 2019.
The Tokyo Games will be the 29-year-old Khairul Anuar’s third Olympic appearance after the 2012 London and 2016 Rio editions. Muhammad Akmal had also made his Olympic debut in the Rio edition in Brazil. – Bernama
