The Samosaurus Chronicles: 2019 Perak Open

Monday, July 22, 2019

2019 Perak Open

A recovery game...

Fresh out of the Thailand Princess Cup, we head up North of the Malaysian Peninsular to shoot at the Perak Open Archery Tournament. Barebow is competed at this event with a little addition. It's the organizer's house rules with 72 arrows in two rounds.
We thought it would be an awesome way to stay in the game and also meet some of the country's top Barebow archers at the shoot.
We set out early on a two-hour drive to Tapah where the event was held and managed to get a good spot to park our vehicle.
There, we set up for the qualifying round where 16 of the top Barebow archers will shoot at the 1/8 KO matches.

The Field of Play...

Chief Judge Johari Abu Bakar briefing the managers

Unlike most the kampung shoots that we regularly attend, this one adheres strictly to the World Archery ruling on archers' conduct, clothing etiquette and scoring.
There, I met Mr Ong, a welder from Kuantan who came in a pair of jeans. I told him the ruling and he changed into a pair of Khaki shorts. Mr Ong's hometown is in Teluk Intan and it was a last-minute do for him as he replaced an archer from the Pahang Barebow Archer's team who came in full force for the event.
At the qualifiers, we had to send 72 arrows downrange. For an 18-meter game, it's odd. But that was house rules and we just shot as we were told.

Event volunteers setting up the target butts...

Taking scores at the qualifying rounds...

The Usual Suspects...

We met Cikgu Suhari and his compatriots: "iceman" Syam and Cikgu Mat who came all the way from Kelantan at the shoot. As usual, they were the favourites. My lane mates were Cikgu Syam and Farid, an old friend from Malacca who took a long break from archery. Shooting alongside with Farid was a new guy who said he was honored to be in the same flight as the Thailand Princess Cup Barebow champion.
At the first round, I managed to shoot 249/360 and was ranked 19th. I actually had a miss with a bad release. This was also the first time I competed at a big event with my CD Archery WF25X riser. I must say that I was off-form and was plagued with a mixture of poor bow arm and release.
Then, after a 15-minute break, came round two. This time, I managed to connect the shots and chalked 277/360 on the target face with an improved ranking at 8th place. The total score of 526/720 placed me at 9th place overall, while Michelle managed to take 12th place with an overall score of 514. Both of us made the cut and went on to the 1/8 match rounds.

My flight with Syam "iceman", Farid and the new guy...

Michelle at a the qualifiers...

With sleep deprivation and a long drive, I wasn't mentally prepared for a KO match. I met Ustaz Omar, a regular Barebow shooter who is also a familiar face at the games. He took the game in a straight set. A clean win.
Michelle, on the other hand, met Cikgu Mat from KEMMAS Five Arrows. This was the first time they met at an elimination match and the scores were toe-to-toe. They drew at the fifth-end and a shoot-off was called by the judge.
Both shot a "9" in the yellow and the line judge awarded the win to Michelle as her arrow landed very close to the "10" circle. From an archer's perspective, Cikgu Mat has come a long way since I last met him in Kemaman, Terengganu. His archery skills has improved tremendously. Next, was the quarter-finals where Michelle met "iceman" Syam. He took the game with a 6-2 win and went on to the semi-finals with Kholidin who came all the way from Jakarta, Indonesia.
Cikgu Suhairi, on the other hand, was in good form and met Kholidin the finals. The Barebow gold medal went to Indonesia to Kholidin who shot extremely well. We had a great time at the shoot and went to Sungkai to celebrate Michelle's getting her MoJo back with some beers and salted baked chicken in Sungkai...