Young Malaysian archers steal the show in Turkiye

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian contingent for the Paris Olympics have grown to 20 athletes, thanks to the young national women’s recurve team in Turkiye.

On Friday, the trio of Ariana Nur Dania Zairi, Nurul Azreena Fazil, and Syaqiera Mashayikh secured a spot in Paris after defeating Colombia 6-0 to reach the team event semi-finals at the Olympic Qualifiers in Antalya.

The sixth-ranked Malaysians then triumphed over Britain 5-3 before narrowly losing 5-4 to China’s Li Jiaman, Yang Xiaolei, and An Qixuan in the final.

Ariana, Syaqiera, and Azreena will also compete in the individual recurve event in Paris.

“We did not set high expectations and did not expect to qualify for the Olympics. We are happy to be one of the four teams to qualify,” said Ariana, 19.

Ariana initially earned an Olympic ticket when she reached the Asian Continental Championships final in Bangkok in November last year.

With Ariana qualifying for the second time, her spot will be handed to another country.

Meanwhile, 23-year-old Syaqiera from Segamat was thrilled with their performance.

“Although we are a young combination, we did exceptionally well to qualify for the final. We narrowly lost by just one point to top seeds China in the gold-medal match.

“It feels really nice that all of us will also get to compete in the individual event in Paris.”

The Paris Games will be Syaqiera’s second Olympics after the 2020 Tokyo edition.