The expectations that were placed on national archer, Khairul Anuar Mohamad’s shoulders was too much for him to bear after he suffered an early exit from the men’s individual recurve event yesterday.
The 24-year-old got off to a great start in the first round by crushing Colombia’s Andres Pila 6-0 and he looked set to maintain his stride when he led 4-0 against Florian Floto, but the German made a miraculous comeback to clinch the second round 4-6.
“He recorded better scores after I took the lead. I was a bit slow in getting used to the field and wind but it shouldn’t be used as an excuse for this defeat,” he said, as quoted by Harian Metro.
The Terengganu-born athlete couldn’t repeat his achievement of reaching the quarter-final at London 2012 when he lost to Japan’s Takaharu Furukawa.
However, he won’t be dispirited with this latest setback as he looks forward to the 2018 Asian Games and Tokyo 2020.
“I have to train harder because other teams are improving their techniques, like the Dutch.
“We do have great sparring partners as well with South Korean archers but I believe we can do much more during practice,” said Khairul.
Khairul’s defeat signals the end for the Malaysian contingent in archery, after the national trio crashed out from the team event, and Haziq Kamaruddin and Akmal Nor Hasrin couldn’t get past the first round in the individual event.
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