Salt Lake an opportunity with Korea absent says Khairul

Two-time Olympian Khairul Anuar Mohamed heads Malaysia’s four-man recurve team at stage three of the 2018 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Salt Lake City, USA – an event in which the Malaysian men collected bronze in 2017.

Stage two in Antalya brought two fourth place finishes for the 26 year old, in the individual and team events, and his best performance on the circuit since 2011, when he won two silver medals in Shanghai.

In Antalya, he lost first to world number one Kim Woojin and then his Korean teammate Oh Jin Hyek, both 7-3.

“I feel satisfied about my performance in Antalya because it’s been a while since the last time I was so close to winning a medal,” said Khairul, who jumped from 44th to 24th in the world after the fourth-place finish. “My world ranking is also getting better and that motivates me to continue improving.”

“I know I have everything to make the finals but I need to be more confident and believe I can do it.”

In Salt Lake City, Khairul will compete against 63 men, including his three teammates, not just for a medal but for a ticket for this year’s Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in Samsun, Turkey. For the first time this season, stage winners take an automatic place on the finals roster.

“In this competition I see an opportunity to win as strong teams like Korea are not here, but Mexico and USA will still be tough to beat,” he said. 

“It’s windy and it will be tricky, so I need to gain more confidence to shoot every arrow to make it to the final stage again.”

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