NATIONAL woman archer Ariana Nur Dania Mohamad Zairi is optimistic that her partnership with the team will bear fruit in the form of medals at the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand later this year.
According to Ariana, with only a few months remaining, she is confident in the capability and strength of her teammates to be at their best by the time of the biennial games.
“For the 2025 SEA Games, we are targeting to win medals. I don’t think it’s impossible because our team is quite strong. There’s not much difference between us and the other national teams,” she said when met recently.
She added that the effort is strongly supported by the Road To Gold (RTG) programme, which has helped improve team chemistry and training, including exposure to overseas competitions, thus enabling the team to build greater confidence when facing opponents.
“So, with support from RTG and the Fast Track programme, we are getting better backing. For example, we’ve seen a lot of improvement in training and international tournaments. We feel we can win medals,” she said.
The trio of national women archers comprises Ariana, Syaqiera Mashayikh, and Nurul Azreena Mohamad Fazil.
Syaqiera also expressed confidence that their trio is highly motivated to contribute medals for the country.
“For me, we want to win medals regardless of the colour. So far, for the women’s team event, we haven’t won any medals.
“In Hanoi, Vietnam, we didn’t win. So, this year in Thailand, we will try our very best. We’ll work hard to win medals,” she said.
Indonesia are seen as one of the main contenders, in addition to having a higher team ranking than the Malaysian trio at the upcoming games.