JOHOR BAHRU: Johor state archer Nur Farah Aziera Shamsuddin is determined to land a medal in the Malaysia Games (SUKMA) Sarawak 2024 from August 17-24, which will be her last appearance in the Games.
The 21-year-old Pontian native said she is confident and optimistic about giving her best performance to bring home more medals for her home state with her experience and training since SUKMA 2022.
“SUKMA Sarawak is the second and last SUKMA that I will participate in so I have high hopes to bring a medal to Johor. I will maintain my momentum like in the last edition of SUKMA or I will improve what I did before where I won a bronze for the group compound category.
“Considering that this is my last SUKMA, my family gave me a lot of encouragement because at times when we are battling so their support really helps to lift our spirits,“ she said when met by Bernama recently.
Nutr Farah who will continue her studies at the Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia, said preparations, including training, had reached 80 per cent to meet the challenge for a medal in the archery event.
“Actually preparations have started since the last edition of SUKMA (2022) and we continue training until now so that we can maintain the momentum because in the last edition of 2022, Johor were the champion so we need to be together to maintain that momentum.
“Our training is a full-time week every day except Sunday from 8 am to 12 noon and it continues from 2 pm to 6 pm. I hope with full enthusiasm that I believe in myself and my teammates to give the best for SUKMA this time where we want to get what we have targeted for like last SUKMA,“ she said.
Meanwhile, Johor Archery head coach Abdul Razak Yaacob said the fighting spirit and dedication of his charges hold great potential to defend the gold medal in Sarawak.
Abdul Razak said all plans have also been implemented to ensure that the Johor archery team repeats the success of two gold medals.
“Our target this time is two gold medals the same as last edition so we will try to maintain two gold medals but there is a request from Johor SUKMA Contingent chief Datuk Pandak Ahmad, State Sports Council and various parties who want more than that so we are aiming for two gold medal first and we will try to get more than that.
“Talking about preparations, the Johor team is at 80 per cent. So the final stage is from the psychological aspect. We get help and support from ‘The Cage by MSNJ’ where they help us a lot in terms of improving the physical strength of our athletes, mental health and advice related to nutrition and special rehabilitation for Johor athletes,“ he said.
Accordingly, Johor SUKMA Contingent head Datuk Pandak Ahmad who is also Johor State Archery Association president is confident that the Johor archery team can defend the team’s two gold medal at the SUKMA Kuala Lumpur Games two years ago.
According to him, it is based on the achievements of the archery team in the recent invitational tournament in Bogor, Indonesia and the exercises that have been carried out.
“Archery is one of my targets (gold) and I, as the president of the association, I take inspiration from the national Olympic participant Syaqiera Mashayikh, who is a major archery athlete and is an inspiration to other athletes as they had previously trained together.
“I am confident in archery and seeing the achievements of our athletes I am confident of achieving more medals for archery at the Sarawak edition of SUKMA,“ he said.
