Khairul tops Salt Lake field with 675-point ranking round

Khairul Anuar Mohamad of Malaysia scored 675 out of a possible 720 points for the 72-arrow 70-metre ranking round to lead the recurve men at the third stage of the 2018 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Salt Lake City, USA, finishing eight points ahead of his nearest opponent.

“I think it went considerably well if you think about the wind,” said Khairul. “But that’s actually what helped me. To focus on each arrow rather than on the wind, and to shoot as fast as possible, as many arrows as I can, when it slowed down a bit.”

The leader of the Malaysian men’s team was followed by Dutchman Sjef van den Berg with 666 points in second and host nation archer Brady Ellison on 663.

“I said I’m working on my confidence and today proves I’m getting there,” added Khairul.

Sjef, who shot Antalya with a shoulder injury after moving to a lighter bow, said he found the windy conditions difficult – but fun: “It’s more like a mental challenge because you have to accept what you are shooting instead of just shooting well.”

Marcus D’Almeida, who seeded fourth with 659 points, celebrated his first ever top-five individual seeding at a stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup.

“I was aiming at the yellow and shooting the best I could, expecting the arrows landed where I needed them to,” said D’Almedia. “The wind played an important factor but finishing in the top eight is a big relief.”

Chinese Taipei’s Tang Chih-Chun ranked fifth and French archers Jean-Charles Valladont and Thomas Chirault sixth and seventh.

Li Jialun of China won a three-way shoot-off for the last top-eight bye into the third round, beating out the USA’s Jack Williams and Sugio Tomoki of Japan. The trio had tied on 650 points.

Khairul’s Malaysian men took pole in team qualifying, followed by the USA and the Netherlands.

The third stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place in Salt Lake City, USA on 18-24 June.