HANGZHOU, Oct 4 — Mohd Juwaidi Mazuki-Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh’s medal hopes were dashed by eventual champions India in the quarterfinals of the mixed team compound archery event at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games today.
India’s Ojas Pravin Deotale-Jyothi Surekha Vennam were in a class of their own as they hit perfect shots in three out of the four ends to defeat the Malaysians 158-155.
Fatin Nurfatehah said it was just their bad luck that they had to meet the fancied Indian archers in the quarterfinals.
“Just hard luck that we, whose ranking is not very good, ended up meeting the top-ranked pair in the quarterfinals. I have to admit that the India team are really great, and they already hold the title of mixed team champions from early this year. We did our best, it’s just that they are better.”
The India pair went on to beat Kazakhstan’s Andrey Tyutyun-Adel Zhexenbinova 159-154 in the semi-finals before edging South Korea’s Joo Jaehoon-So Chaewon 159-158 in the final.
Taiwan’s Chang Cheng Wei-Chen Yi Hsuan settled for bronze after defeating Tyutyun-Zhexenbinova in the match for third place.
For the record, Ojas Pravin created history when he became India’s first male archer to strike gold in the individual compound event at the World Championships in August.
The Malaysian compound archery team can still contribute a medal when the men’s team, comprising Mohd Juwaidi, Alang Ariff Aqil Muhammad Ghaz and Mohamad Syafiq Md Ariffin, take on Iran in the quarterfinals tomorrow.
— Bernama
