KUALA LUMPUR – National archery coach Norizham Ishak faces a challenging task as he works to restore the confidence of his three archers ahead of the women’s individual recurve event at the Paris Olympics tomorrow.
The national archery trio, consisting of Ariana Nur Dania Mohamad Zairi, Nurul Azreena Mohamad Fazil, and Syaqiera Mashayikh, were eliminated in the women’s team event’s 1/8 elimination round yesterday, losing to Indonesia with a score of 5-3.
Earlier, during the qualification round, the national team only managed to secure 10th place out of the 12 competing teams.
While Malaysia’s team event has concluded, the national squad still has the chance to improve their performance in the individual events.
Norizham believes the main reason his archers have yet to showcase their best performances is due to nervousness on the day of competition.
Therefore, Norizham, along with experienced coaching director Lee Jae Hyung, who has been guiding the national archery team since the Athens 2004 Olympics, is working on strategies to help the three archers stay calm for tomorrow’s individual event.
“We don’t know what will happen in the final stage. Given that all the countries are strong, what’s important is for them to return to their usual shooting routine.
“They just need to focus on getting their shooting back to normal; that’s the key,” said Norizham, when contacted by Scoop.
For tomorrow’s event at the Esplanade des Invalides in Paris, Syaqiera will face Moldovan archer Alexandra Mirca.
Her teammate, Ariana, will return to the field the following day to compete against Italian archer Chiara Rebagliati, while Azreen will go up against Turkey’s Elif Berra Gokkır. – July 29, 2024