Lee is second at World Horseback Archery competition

PETALING JAYA, Dec 26 (Bernama) -- No one expected junior horseback archer Lee Jin Ming to emerge as the runner up at the 14th World Horseback Archery Championship for Under 16 participants in South Korea in October, after winning a RM100 voucher.

To take part in the championship, the talented 13-year-old archer only took six months to learn to ride a horse, apart from his seven-year experience in traditional archery, to win second place in the single shot category.

Narrating on his involvement in the sport, Lee said he had won first place in the Traditional Archery Competition organised by the Tanah Lagenda Archery Academy at Taman Tun Dr Ismail, and presented with the RM100 voucher for one session of horseback archery lesson, early this year.

After undergoing the session, Lee said he became very keen in picking up horseback archery skills under coach Mohd Nasrul Kamarulzaman and continued training with the academy which was based in Kelana Jaya.

‘’I was first introduced to traditional archery at the age of seven by my family. After getting the voucher from my win at the archery competition, I wanted to try my hand at horseback archery. Initially, it was difficult as I have to control my horse and at the same time try to hit the target.

‘’I fell five times during training. Although it was challenging, I was hooked. I did not expect to win second place at the 14th World Horseback Archery Championship in South Korea because it was my first attempt.

‘’I hope to participate in more international competitions after this,’’ he told Bernama at a ‘Malaysia Is The Destination Of  The Traditional Archery Sport 2019’ media conference at Wisma Transtel, here today.

Lee, who is from Kuala Lumpur, lost to the host participant at the final while the bronze medal went to the archer from China.

To take part in the championship, his family had footed the bill for the full cost of the expenditure including the air fare.

In the meantime, Mohd Nasrul said his student Lee was a quiet boy but was focused, learned fast and did not easily give up.

‘’I did not expect Lee to use the voucher he won in the best possible way. After the first session ended, his family agreed to follow the subsequent training sessions with me. The fee was RM350 for four sessions,’’ he added.

-- BERNAMA