THE last of the national archers to earn his Olympic berth, Wan Mohd Khalmizam Wan Abd Aziz never imagined he would get a chance to perform on the sporting world’s biggest stage.
Archery was not Khalmizam’s first love as he had originally gained a place at the Bandar Penawar Sports School by playing tennis.
However, he failed to impress in tennis at the school, and rather than return to Kota Baru, he turned to judo, also without much success.
Finally, after spotting several archers in training, he picked up a bow and arrow and after several shots at the target, he was hooked.
That was in 2002 and it was not until three years later that he impressed national coach Lee Jae-hyung to break into the national senior squad.
“I was a late comer to archery as I picked up the sport only after I failed at tennis and judo. I like sports very much and I did not want to lose my place in Bandar Penawar so I decided to give archery a try.
“Not even in my wildest imagination did I think back then that this sport would take me to the Olympics. But it has been worth it and I don’t have any complaints,” said Khalmizam, now ranked at a career-best of 41 in the world.
Khalmizam, who turns 23 a week after the end of the archery competition in Beijing, hopes he will have more than just his birthday to celebrate at the Olympics.
“I reached the individual quarter-finals of the World Cup in Croatia this year and I am hoping to reach that far in Beijing.
“But I think we can do better in the team event although it is going to be tough with so many top teams there as well,” added Khalmizam, who stunned the archery world when he beat Italy’s 2003 world champion Michele Frangilli at the 2007 Archery World Cup in Ulsan, South Korea.
That win earned Khalmizam the distinction of becoming the first Malaysian to reach the last-16 stage of the World Cup before going on to reach the quarter-finals in Porec, Croatia this year.
His displays took his ranking up to 41st in the world, and second in the country behind Cheng Chu Sian, who was the first Malaysian to reach the quarter-finals of the World Outdoor Championships, held once every four years, in Leipzig, Germany last year.
Khalmizam failed to earn his Olympic ticket in Leipzig and was forced to do it the hard way.
After losing his semi-final match 108-107 to Mark Javier of the Philippines in the Asian Olympic qualifying tournament in Xi’an, China last year, Khalmizam clinched his Olympic place by a whisker when he edged India’s Dola Banerjee after extra arrows in the third place playoff.
“I was not expecting to qualify and I tried not to think too much about it. I was only thinking of doing my best and was hoping that would be enough,” recalled Khalmizam.
Khalmizam’s qualification was crucial for the Malaysian team as only countries with three archers in Beijing will be allowed to compete in the team event.
Having travelled the road he least expected, Khalmizam will be secretly thanking his lucky stars that he failed at judo and tennis. An Olympic dream could not have been realised otherwise.
FACT FILE :
WAN MOHD KHALMIZAM WAN ABD AZIZ
■ Date of birth: Aug 21, 1986
■ Hometown: Kota Baru, Kelantan
■ Height: 169cm
■ Weight: 69kg
■ Sport: Archery
■ Coach: Lee Jae-hyung
■ Likes: Playing sports
■ Dislikes: Nil
■ Favourite movie: Nil
■ Favourite food: Nil
■ Favourite actor/actress: Nil
■ Career high: Qualifying for the Olympics and quarter- nals of 2008 World Cup second stage in Porec, Croatia
■ Career low: None
■ Previous Olympic appearances: Debutant
■ Beijing event: Recurve— Individual, team
■ Competition dates: Aug 9-15
New Straits Times
No comments:
Post a Comment