Archery: Khairul makes it to World Cup Finals.

Khairul Anuar has become the first Malaysian archer to qualify for the season-ending World Cup Final in Paris, featuring the seven best archers of the season plus one from host nation France. The event will be held on 21-22 September at the Trocadero Esplanade. Khairul Anuar will shoot in the recurve category on Sunday 22 September, the day of his 22nd birthday!

Khairul Anuar was promoted to the Malaysian elite squad in 2011 as a 20-year old archer. After finishing second in the team event at the European Grand Prix in Boé, France in May 2011, he earned a spot on the Malaysian team for the London Olympic Games when he finished first in the team play-off competition.

Khairul Anuar made Malaysian archery history when he reached the recurve men's individual final at Stage 4 of the Archery World Cup, in Shanghai in September 2011, competing in his first World Cup event in only his third international tournament. Khairul Anuar edged out several top archers before losing to USA’s Joe FANCHIN in the gold medal final. This was the first medal for a Malaysian archer in an individual World Cup event.

One month later, Khairul Anuar tied the national record to finish second in the recurve men's qualifications at the London Archery Classic Olympic Test Event. He then defeated experienced Ukrainian archer Dmytro HRACHOV (UKR), team bronze medallist at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, to snatch third place, thus emerging as an Olympic medal contender for London 2012. 

In the Asian Championships in Tehran two weeks later, the archer from Malaysia took a well-deserved title in the individual event. This was just two days after Khairul Anuar won the team continental title, stopping China in the final.

At the London 2012 Olympic Games, the Malaysian archer made it to the quarter-finals of the individual event, where he was stopped by eventual silver medallist Takaharu FURUKAWA of Japan, finishing sixth individually. With his team, however, he retired after a first-round loss.

This 2013 season started with victory in the team event at the First Asian Grand Prix 2013 in Bangkok. He then clinched fourth place at the first World Cup event in Shanghai, losing to No.1 seeded athlete OH Jin Hyek of Korea in the semi-finals and to Japan's Shungo TABATA for the bronze medal. Eighth and 17th place finishes in Antalya and Medellin offered Khairul Anuar his ticket to Paris for the World Cup Final.

Read more: Khairul Anuar MOHAMAD's biography

World Archery Communication