Singapore’s Pang Toh Jin is the lone archer from his nation in Shanghai. His compound teammates, he said, didn’t plan to attend the Hyundai Archery World Cup stage, as they had in previous years, but instead focused on the growing continental circuit offered by the Asia Cup.
The Singaporean team, though, is practising together every weekend – and evenings, when they can – in preparation for this summer’s Southeast Asian Games.
“It’s a major competition in the region. Everyone in Singapore looks at it as a major event, important for the whole country,” said Pang, a full-time elementary school physical education teacher, part-time archer.
“I’ve been shooting for 10 years. I thought it was cool to shoot at something that was 70 metres away. I actually saw some boys shooting in school but I didn’t start until afterwards; I got interested and did some research and I haven’t let go since.”
The 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur will be Pang’s fourth.
He shot the first with his recurve and this will be his third in the compound division. Potentially competing against athletes from the 11 invited nations – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam – the Singaporean compound archers consider their chances pretty strong.
“I would be happy with a podium finish. We have a very strong team this year so we are looking for a good result,” said Pang.
The team competition works slightly differently to World Archery events. Teams of four shoot together and – as in the Asian Games – only the top two qualifying archers progress to the individual matchplay.
“We are trying to raise our level and then, hopefully, we can progress to the Asian Games,” Pang added.
The compound bow debuted at the Asian Games in 2014 and, in 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia, it will return for a second edition. It prompted a surge in interest in the discipline across the continent and, with athletes from seven of the Southeast Asian nations competing at the first opportunity, this regional multisporting event is an important stepping stone for nations without a strong historical pedigree in compound archery to make significant progress.
Southeast Asian compound archers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam attended Shanghai.
The first stage of the 2017 Hyundai Archery World Cup runs 16 to 21 May in Shanghai, China.
