Story by REDintern Lim Ying Xian. Photos by Clara Yuan, Lim Yong Teck and Zachary Foo/Red Sports
Vanessa Loh of NUS prepares to shoot during the Recurve Open bronze medal match against Chan Jing Ru, who also represents NUS. (Photo 1 © Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports)
NTU Sports and Recreational Centre Multipurpose Field, March 9, 2014 – Vanessa Loh of National University of Singapore needed two shootouts to beat NUS teammate Chan Jing Ru to win the Recurve Open bronze at the 6th Nanyang Technological University Institutional Archery Championship (NTU IAC).
Chew Der Lun of Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) beat fellow NP archer Chong Geng Ming to win the Compound Open bronze.
Jing Ru and Vanessa, both national archers, had the most unpredictable medal match of this competition. Vanessa was leading Jing Ru 4—0 at the second scoring end, but Jing Ru gradually caught up with Vanessa in the subsequent ends. They were tied on the third end, and Jing Ru outperformed Vanessa in the fourth and fifth ends, enabling her to score an additional four set-points. They were eventually tied at 5—5 at the end of 5 scoring ends.
A one-arrow shootout took place thereafter, but no one expected Jing Ru and Vanessa to both score nine points for the shootout. After judge David Tan made a careful measurement, it turned out that their arrows were at exactly the same distance from the centre, a rare occurrence. Another one-arrow shootout followed and eventually Vanessa edged out Jing Ru 8—7 to win the Recurve Open bronze.
Vanessa said, “For us, it was really intense, because I was actually leading, then she caught up in the last two ends, so we tied at 5—5. Then we went for the one-arrow shootoff. But the thing was, because we shot the same score, the nearest arrow to the centre will still win, but when the judge measured the two arrows, they were exactly the same distance (from the centre), so we had to re-shoot the shootoff, which was quite rare, as we didn’t expect to shoot that. Anyway, after we re-shot the shootoff, I won her 8—7, so it was quite lucky.”
Vanessa, who will be heading to the World University Archery Championship in July, also shared some aspects that she would like to improve on for her next archery competition. She said, “I think, maybe the (control of my bow arm in the) wind. Maybe because I’m not very strong, so whenever the wind blows, my bow arm is shifting quite a lot, so it’s very hard to try to keep it within the centre, and that’s why I think I get a lot of off-centre shots that goes off the red (7- and 8-point region) than the centre.”
Chew Der Lun and Chong Geng Ming of NP fought their way through the multiple stages of the Individual Eliminations to earn their places to fight for the Compound Open bronze. In the semi-finals, Der Lun, who was the first seed from the qualification rounds, lost to fifth seed Pang Qing Liang of NTU 126—132, while third seed Geng Ming (NP) had gone down second seed Ang Hwee Ying (NP), 123—129.
It was a fairly close fight between Der Lun (NP) and Geng Ming (NP) for the Compound Open bronze. Der Lun eventually beat Geng Ming 132—130.
Individual Elimination Bronze Medallists
Recurve Open
Vanessa Loh Tze Rong (NUS)
Compound Open
Chew Der Lun (NP)
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