The National Sports Council (NSC) welcomed the the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to list the mixed team compound archery event among the medal-offering events at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games (LA28).
NSC director-general Jefri Ngadirin said the development opens up additional opportunities for Malaysia to hunt for medals at the prestigious games.
According to him, it is because the national compound archery squad has managed to exhibit impressive performances in recent times.
“As everyone knows, Malaysia has always managed to have archers who qualify on merit for the recurve event for several previous Olympic games. This includes three archers who competed during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris,” he said in a statement today.
Meanwhile, Jefri said for the compound event, the national squad also has several archers who have managed excellent results that everyone can be proud, including Alang Arif Aqil Muhammad Ghazalli and Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh who won gold in the mixed team event at the Asian Cup in Bangkok last February.
He said Malaysia also has an experienced compound archer, Mohd Juwaidi Mazuki, who was ranked 20th in the world and won a bronze medal at the World Compound Archery Championships in Antalya, Turkiye, in 2023.
“NSC currently has eight compound archers of four men and four women in the Podium Programme since 2018, who are being prepared for major tournaments at the world level.
“Among the other achievements include gold medals in the men’s team event at the 2023 and 2024 Asian Cups and bronze medals at the 2018 and 2022 Asian Games,” he said.
Media reports said that compound archery will finally be contested at the Olympics when the event will offer medals for the mixed team category at LA28.
