Malaysia's National Para Archer S.Suresh Qualifies For 2020 Paralympic Games

KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 (Bernama) -- National recurve archer, S.Suresh qualified for next year's Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan when he grabbed a slot through merit at the 2019 World Archery Para Championships 2019 in Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, Thursday's night. His slot in Tokyo was secured after he managed to step into the final round of the individual recurve men’s event scheduled for Sunday. National para archery coach, Marzuki Zakaria, when contacted by Bernama, said although he could not celebrate Aidilfitri with his family, the sacrifice has been made meaningful with Suresh's success.  “Praise be to Allah. My goal was to make sure the national recurve archers qualify through merit to the Paralympic Games as the last time we qualified through merit was in 2011. This is a joint success with the National Sports Council (MSN) who designed a programme together with the para archery team. “Likewise, the National Sports Institute (ISN) who helped support our team. However, I think there is still room for improvement for our para archers to do better in the future,” he said. Marzuki said his archers were in the Netherlands from May 30 until June 30 to gain exposure. Asked about intensive training plans for his charges, Marzuki admits that the weather in the Netherlands was perfect for them to adapt to the cold weather in Tokyo later on. “The plan is there, considering that the weather is cool here and the weather in Tokyo 2020 is expected to be cool as well, I'm planning to find a place that is more or less the same to familiarise our athletes in the competition. However this needs discussion and approval from the upper management,” he said. For the record, Suresh won the recurve men’s silver medal at the Fazza para world ranking tournament in Dubai last month. -- BERNAMA