National archer, Khairul Anuar Mohamad officially booked his spot for the Rio Olympics after winning the recurve event at the Asian Archery Championship in Bangkok, Thailand, yesterday.
The 24-year-old defeated his opponent from the first round comfortably, before beating Gantugs Jantsan from Mongolia 6-0 in the final duel. And the man himself was visibly delighted to have secured a Rio slot.
“I’m absolutely grateful for the success. I’m certainly happy as well, as this is what I’ve always wanted from the beginning,” he told Utusan.
“I want to thank everyone who has supported me, despite my mistakes during the tournament. My focus will now shift towards the team event and hopefully I can use my victory as a catalyst to help the team secure a Rio slot as well,” he added.
However, his fellow compatriot Haziq Kamaruddin was unable to follow in his footsteps after finishing fourth, having lost to Sultan Duzelbayev from Kazakhstan in the bronze medal match.
Khairy became the fifth Malaysian athlete to qualify for the Rio Olympics, behind four diving athletes in the form of Pandelela Rinong Ng Yan Yee, Ooi Tze Liang, and Nur Dhabitah Sabri.
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