National para archers on target to secure two gold medals at APG

The twin victories were especially sweet for 25-year-old G. Daneshen, who lost out on a gold at yesterday's men's individual event, as he was part of both the winning men's and mixed teams.

The Kulim-born archer, first partnered up with Nur Jannaton Abdul Jalil to bag the mixed event gold, as they edged Thailand's Comsan Singpirom-Praphaporn Homjanthuek 144-139.

Daneshen then joined forces with Wiro Julin to secure the men's team title, defeating Manangdang Angelo-Marzel Burgos of the Philippines 137-123.

"I am very happy to win these gold medals, it was nervous at first but we managed to stay calm and remain focused till the end. I am really thankful for these victories, as my effort and hard work for past 10 years to achieve something in this sport finally paid off.

"I had to go through a lot of hardship in life as many belittled me for not having any significant achievement though being in archery for about a decade, but I remained patient. I won't stop here, I will continue to work hard towards next APG in Cambodia and the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou next year," he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, national coach Marzuki Zakaria was pleased with his charges' overall performance to exactly match the two gold, one silver and one bronze (through S. Suresh in the men's individual recurve event) medal target.

"As a coach, I always remind my athletes not to be complacent with this success as there is still next year's direction, the APG and Hangzhou.

"My objective is to see at least some athletes qualify on merit to the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games," he said.

In 2017, when APG was organised in Kuala Lumpur, the para archers bagged one gold, two silvers and three bronze medals, improving on their 1-2-1 medal haul in Singapore 2015.