KUALA LUMPUR: The national paralympic archery squad will be in Australia for 16 days, from March 24 to April 8, to undergo training and test their skills at the World Archery Oceania 2024 Para Grand Prix, in Sydney.
The squad head coach Marzuki Zakaria said that his team had received an invitation from the Australian National Archery Association to participate in a training camp with their athletes, which will be followed by a tournament, scheduled to take place from April 1-8.
“The training camp with the Australian archers is an opportunity for our three athletes, who have already booked their place at the 2024 Paralympics, to gain experience as part of their preparations before the Games.
“In addition, the 2024 Para Oceania GP tournament is also seen as ideal for the three athletes to compete with the prowess of archers from nine other countries, including the hosts, Indonesia and South Korea, ahead of the action in Paris,” he told Bernama.
The three archers who have qualified for the 2024 Paralympics are former 2019 world champion S. Suresh (men’s recurve); the best female athlete of the Malaysia Para Games (Para Sukma) 2022, Nur Jannaton Abd Jalil (women’s compound); and G. Daneshen (men’s compound).
Suresh will make his second appearance after Tokyo 2020, while 2024 Paralympics marks the first appearance of Nur Jannaton and Daneshen on the stage of the prestigious sporting event.
In addition to Australia, Marzuki said that his squad also plans to train with Indonesian archers at their training centre, which is Solo, before heading to Paris.
Meanwhile, he hopes that the three athletes can use the opportunity to strengthen themselves mentally, so that they can give fierce opposition to other great archers at the 2024 Paralympics.
Marzuki also admitted that luck was not on former national Paralympian Wiro Julin’s side, as he missed the slot to the 2024 Paralympics at the 8th Fazza Para Archery World Ranking Tournament in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), recently.
Wiro, who competed in the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo, narrowly lost to Bulent Korkmaz of Turkiye, 141-142 in the 1/16 elimination round, in the last tournament of qualifying for the Paralympics.
“Even though he didn’t make it to Paris, Wiro showed good archery, but lost out to his challenger,“ he said.
The 2024 Paralympics are scheduled to take place from Aug 28 to Sept 8. – Bernama
