2017 Thailand Princess Cup - Part 3

Our team at Fashion Island Mall on day 1 of the tournament

Manager's briefing and qualifiers...

We had an extra day before the qualifiers. So, Friday, we took it rather easy. No more archery, just chilling out and wait for the manager's briefing at Synisiri Resort, which is located new Fashion Island Mall where the Thailand Princess Cup archery tournament is held. 

Scoping out the event hall before tournament day

Setting up the participant's tag

Michelle with her shooter's tag and lane number

We decided to have lunch at Fashion Island Mall. Ended up at a steamboat restaurant. Spent half the day chilling out there before we took a walk to Syinsiri which is nearby. That was also the hotel where most of the archers are staying.
There, we met a group of archers from Malaysia. Notable was En Suhairi who won the Kelantan open tournament earlier in March. Together with him were three other winners of the Malaysia Cup tournament. We sat in for the briefing and was surprised to learn that there will be two rounds for the first day of the barebow shoot. First, the qualifiers and then, the elimination round.
Later in the day, we caught up with coach Lau, our fourth team member and had a rather late dinner before calling it a day...

Arriving at the scene on the first day of the tournament...

The archer's prep room, already packed to the brim

Archers at the qualifiers for the recurve event

 Enduring the heebeejeebies and a long day... 

The next morning, we headed out to the junction of Khu Bon Road to have our local breakfast. After a good fill, the guys went back to take a dump. Its ritual.
Later, we boarded the taxis that took us to Fashion Island Mall which is nearby. After getting our gear out, we headed to the event hall and made our way to the archer's prep room. Since we are shooting in the afternoon, coach Lau suggested an early lunch. Everyone had their fill and was happy!

Equipment inspection

Local media at the scene

The trophies!

After a good fill, it was back to the event hall, there, we had a chance to warm-up. As usual, I did my push-ups, stretching and by the time our group was called, it's a quick march to the shooting line.

Warm-up session

Thai archers tallying the scores

Jeff, Lau and I shot on the same shooting line. We were in group A, while Michelle worked her way to the far end of the hall to shoot with the ladies.
My shooting mate was a tall Thai archer using a spigarelli barebow riser. He took target bud A while I shot the B side. Prior to this, we were assigned our target face and knew that the best way to beat anxiety is to train hard on our designated face.
It really helped a lot! After 10 ends and 30 arrows, I had two misses. The arrows landed outside the target face. For my effort, I scored 198/300. I beat my previous year score of 113/300. The highest scoring archer was from the Thailand Outdoor Archery Club. He ranked at 4th place with an impressive score of 237/300. Second highest was my lane mate who shot 216/300 while the guy on target face C shot at 205/300. 
My group was very evenly matched as most of them were excellent archers. Coach Lau came in at 186 ranked 58th while Michelle scored 174 and ranked 66th. Jeff, the weakest of the lot came in at 78 points ranked 105. Despite that, we made it to the elimination round that same day.

With our ranking tags for round 2

Michelle, squaring off with a Singaporean archer

The culling begins...

I was quite pleased with the results. Despite two misses, I managed to pull myself together and connected with my target face. We went off for some snacks, chilled out before the elimination round commenced that evening.
I was in group A and was paired with a young archer ranked at 81. In this round, it was a best of 5 that decides who wins. If you shoot and score 6 points without any opposition, you own the match.
I have shot Olympic Round (as this is called) in Kelantan earlier this year. We also trained for the OR format before heading to Thailand.
The young man who shot next to me was rather nervous. His first end was a disaster and when he couldn't connect on the subsequent ends, I went in for the kill. The resuts: 6-0. I made it through the 1/64 elimination match and progressed to the 1/32 OR match on the next day...

Celebrating with a chilled one over dinner!

Michelle was in group B and I had the chance to be her spotter. 
She shot with a Singaporean archer from the Teluk Blangah Archery Club. These guys are good and has been regulars at the Princess Cup Tournament since 2014 in the barebow category. 
Her opponent is an experienced archer. The guy took the first round by scoring 2-0. On the second end, Michelle equalized and with our encouragement and moral support, she took the third end by leading at 4-2. The befuddled Singaporean guy had his fate sealed when he shot poorly. Michelle took the match by 6-2 after five ends. Coach Lau also did very well and managed to move on to round 3. Jeff, on the other hand, gave his opponent a good fight. We left the scene late at night and celebrated by having beers and a late dinner....

Part 4: The push...