The Star Online: Metro: Central
The Star Online: Metro: Central |
| Expensive archery equipment the main stumbling block Posted: 23 Feb 2013 04:39 AM PST TAKING up archery can be an expensive affair. However, this can be overcome if schools provide the archery equipment for students. SMK Raja Mahadi in Klang is one school that has eight archery sets, archery targets and a dedicated teacher in Thyagarajan Gopala-krishnan. "Although eight archery sets seem a good number, they are unable to cater for some 100 students who are part of the SMK Raja Mahadi archery club. They train at the school grounds every Saturday. "The school's archery programme started more than a decade ago and the students here were the dominating force in Under-15 and Under-18 age group categories in the MSSS Klang archery competition for the last five years," he said. Thyagarajan has an extra eight sets that he take to the training ground for students to use but they are still not enough. Even the archery boards are already worn out and need to be replaced. Despite all the setbacks, students from this school thrive in archery as many of them have represented and won medals for the school in the Selangor Sport School Council (MSSS) meet and Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM) programme. The school is also the training ground for many Selangor athletes for the Malaysia Games and is the MSSS and Klang district schools archery training ground. He said the Selangor Education Department Sports Unit head Noor Azli Abdul Rahman had been very helpful and the school received one archery set from them recently. "I understand that archery equipment is expensive and the Selangor Education Department can only play a small part as they have to provide equipment to other schools that excel in various sports. Thyagarajan is looking for contribution of used archery sets and target boards so that students can strive further in the sport. "I hope those who have old archery sets will contribute towards a good cause,'' he said. Those interested in donating their used archery sets or target boards can call Thyagarajan at 012-221 6950. |
| Klang slowly losing stranglehold on archery Posted: 23 Feb 2013 04:39 AM PST KLANG district, a powerhouse in producing young talented archers, is facing a stumbling block in the development of the sport. This is because there are only a few primary schools that run programmes for archery. According to Selangor Schools Sports Council (MSSS) archery technical chairman G. Thyagarajan, only three schools — SRJK (Tamil) Simpang Lima, SK Methodist (Girls) Klang and SK Sungai Kapar Indah — have archery programmes for their pupils. Three other schools — SK Klang Jaya and SK Bukit Tinggi and SK Batu Unjur — scrapped the archery programme two years ago as purchasing the equipment was too costly. "I fear that this will affect the overall domination of archery in Klang district and the sport will die off slowly. I hope that these schools revive the archery programme. "Selangor was fifth overall in archery during the MSSM. This was because the archers in the Under-12 age group did not deliever any gold medal. This is very disappointing,'' said Thyagarajan, who coaches SMK Raja Mahadi archery club and the school team three times a week. He said the students must start picking up archery while in primary school where the fundamental and basic skills were taught. "But when we do not have any feeder schools or pupils from the primary schools coming here with basic skills, we have to teach them from scratch and it will take years before they can become accomplished archers. "I hope other primary schools in Klang district start an archery programme to ensure that Klang continues dominating this sport,'' he said. Thyagarajan also pointed out that accomplished and national archer Mohd Firdaus Isa, who was a silver medallist at the Indonesian SEA Games in 2011, has not secured a job despite having a degree in Physical Education from Universiti Putra Malaysia. Firdaus, who aspires to coach archery in a sport school, had gone for an interview with the Education Department, but failed to land a job. "My dream is to become a teacher and coach in a sports school where I can pass on my knowledge to junior archers,'' said Firdaus, who is currently an assistant coach for the Selangor Sukma squad. |
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