National archer Juwaidi Mazuki’s campaign in the men’s individual compound event at the Hangzhou Asian Games came to an end in the quarter-finals today after struggling with an equipment issue.
Juwaidi, who lost 148-135 to South Korea’s top-ranked Joo Jaehoon, disclosed that there was an issue with his ‘thumb release’ at the start of the fourth end.
The World Cup bronze medallist was left to rue what could have been.
“I had no major worries competing against him (Jaehoon) as he is still a junior archer,” said Juwaidi.
“It doesn’t feel great to blame my equipment but unfortunately that is what happened.
“It happened so quickly and there was not much I could do. I just had to let it go and try and focus on my remaining shots.
“I had been targeting this event so it is unfortunate that this happened.
“I will try to move on and focus on my upcoming events.”
Juwaidi added that he had thoroughly checked his equipment, which is new, prior to the match.
The 33-year-old still has the mixed team and men’s team compound events to compete in.
On a separate note, Juwaidi stressed that he and partner Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh will have to be at their best to beat India’s Ojas Pravin Deotale-Jyothi Surekha Vennam in the mixed team quarter-finals tomorrow.
“They are a very strong pair so this will be a tough match for us. It is never easy against India, they have plenty of world class archers,” added Juwaidi.
“We really need to be on top of our game to beat them. Sometimes playing well is not enough to win. We have to be outstanding to beat them.”
Fatin, who was shown an early exit in the women’s individual event yesterday, echoed Juwaidi’s sentiments.
Juwaidi-Fatin had beaten Singapore’s Contessa Loh Tze Chien-Woon Teng Ng 158-151 yesterday to book their spot in the quarter-finals.
“They are the top-ranked pair and on paper they are very strong,” said Fatin.
“But in archery anything can happen. We will try our best for the country.”
Ojas Pravin-Jyothi emerged champions at the Antalya World Cup in Turkey (April).
