MALAYSIAN ARCHERS LACK EXPERIENCE SAYS COACH JAE-HYUNG
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 (Bernama) -- Inexperience to compete at the highest level like the Olympics had cost the recurve archers dearly in Beijing, said national archery coach Lee Jae-hyung .
The trio of Mohd Marbawi Sulaiman, Wan Mohd Khalmizan Wan Abdul Aziz and Cheng Chu Sian, the world number five failed to make the quarter-final losing to Italy 213-218.
Jae-hyung who returned today said the intimidating atmosphere at the Olympics proved too much for the archers who were making their debut.
"It had nothing to do with their mental. They had managed to overcome fear and were not afraid of their oppponents," said the coach from South Korea.
In the individual event, Chu Sian made it to the quarter-final while Mohd Marbawi and Mohd Khalmizan crashed out in the first round.
Chu Sian who upset Olympic record holder Lee Chang Hwan of South Korea to make the quarter-final lost to Bair Badenov of Russia 109-104.
"The Olympics cannot be compared to the Asian and Commonwealth Games. Our archers are still young, at 21-25 years and can be retained for the 2012 London Olympics," said Jae-Hyung.
He was however satisfied with the archers who broke the national record with 1,993 points in the team event while Chu Sian emerged as one of the world's 16 best archer.
The coach said the National Archery Association need to conduct a post-mortem on why they failed to return with a medal.
--BERNAMA
