Khairul Anuar MOHAMAD: “I expected to reach this ranking”

What a day you had yesterday! Did you expect to reach this rank after the qualifications? 

Yes I expected that. I tried to reach my best score. Sometimes I have problems with my shooting, so I just have to learn how to improve that and maintain my level.  

Do you point a medal next Sunday? 

That would be nice. However, my target is not getting a medal but to reach at least the quarter-finals. My real target this year is to be in the Paris Final. 

This year you have won the Asian Grand Prix in Bangkok with your team but you did not do it so well individually. How can you explain this? 

Individually, I have many problems because I cannot always deal with the pressure and I am quite tense. When I shoot with the team it is easier for me because I can rely on my teammates.  

Are you inspired by any team in your way of shooting? 

I also try to get inspiration from the Korean team. They shoot in a very simple way and get very high scores, so it is true that I would like to reach that. 

Do you see that Asian teams are progressing a lot? 

Yes but not only Asian teams; all the teams are progressing. The UK, the USA or Mexico get high results. Again, I try to get inspiration from all these successful teams and combine their examples for my own shooting. 

What is your plan for this year’s World Cup? Is the Malaysian team going to take part in the four stages? 

We will take part in all the stages but our team is quite new, with new archers that must get experience. Nevertheless, I hope that we will be able to reach at least the quarter-finals in the events in which we will be competing, and why not, maybe fighting for the gold medal. 

This year in Taipei you will try to retain your individual and team titles at the Asian Championships. Is it a main objective for you? 

I am not sure. As I said, for the moment I only want to maintain my level and try to solve my problems of tension. 

How popular is archery in your country? 

Archery is not really popular in Malaysia. People are mostly great followers of football, squash and badminton. There are even people who do not know anything about archery. Neither media pay attention to what we do. The good thing with this is that we do not have so much pressure and we can prepare more quietly. 

Do you expect Malaysia to be playing a more important role in the next coming years? 

Yes because now we have a good team and we try to get a good shooting, and we feel confident about facing any other teams. I also hope that our women’s team will follow our results because it is so difficult to find good female archers in Malaysia. 

World Archery Communication