PARIS: The challenge of the national archery trio in the women’s recurve team event at the Paris 2024 Olympics was halted in the 1/8 elimination round at Invalides today.
The trio, consisting of Ariana Nur Dania Mohamad Zairi, Syaqiera Mashayikh and Nurul Azreena Mohd Fazil, were ousted after losing 3-5 to Indonesia, represented by Diananda Choirunisa, Syifa Nurafifah Kamal and Rezza Octavia.
In the match, the Malaysian trio lost 52-54 in the first set before levelling the score with 55-47 in the next set but succumbed to a 51-53 defeat and tied 52-52 in the subsequent two sets (2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw).
Indonesia will next face China, consisting of An Qixuan, Li Jiaman and Yang Xiaolei, while the three Malaysian representatives will compete in the individual round of 64 starting Tuesday.
Despite the narrow loss, Ariana Nur Dania was still satisfied with her performance as she did better than in the ranking round last Thursday.
Ariana Nur Dania, who celebrated her 19th birthday yesterday with her family and officials from the Malaysian contingent, admitted that she received an extra boost to overcome her nerves in her first Olympics.
“My whole family (parents, older sister, younger brother and younger sister) came here to support me. I managed to celebrate my birthday with a cake and had a meal with my family here.
“I hope this can boost my confidence for the individual event later. Even today, I performed better compared to the individual round the other day,“ she said.
Meanwhile, head coach Lee Jae Hyung said that although his charges’ performance was better today, they still need to rectify some weaknesses.
“Today, there was no wind disturbance; we could shoot, but the finishing was less than excellent. On the Olympic stage, all opponents are well-prepared. We need to be brave to do better, and we will continue to fine-tune for the individual event,“ the South Korean coach said in fluent Malay.
In the ranking round to determine the draw for the knockout stages of the individual and team events, Syaqiera, who competed in the Tokyo 2020 edition, finished 14th with 663 points, while Ariana Nur Dania (633 points) and Nurul Azreena (622 points) finished in 50th and 60th positions, respectively.
Next, Syaqiera will compete against Alexandra Mirca from Moldova this Tuesday, while Ariana Nur Dania and Nurul Azreena will face tough challenges from 15th-ranked Chiara Rebagliati from Italy and fifth-ranked Elif Berra Gokkır from Turkiye, respectively, the following day.
