Coach admits ‘she likes RP archer Javier’s chances’

MANILA, Philippines – Mark Javier returned to the Olympic Village after an early-morning workout feeling on top of his game on the eve of his match against a top-rated opponent. “I’ve worked hard to prepare for this Olympics and I feel I can give my opponent a very good fight. Mabibigat ang kalaban, pero gagawin ko lahat para manalo," said Javier, perspiring heavily after practice at the Olympic Green Archery Field in downtown Beijing. At around 3 p.m. Wednesday, the Dumaguete City-raised archer will face Kuo Cheng Wei of Chinese-Taipei in one of 32 head-to-head matches in the knockout stages of the men’s individual recurve competition. “[Kuo] is good, alam ko ’yun. But I know I can give him a very good fight. Sana suwertihin tayo," Javier added. Jennifer Chan, Javier’s coach, said her ward is determined to win and he took great pains to whip himself up to fighting form in preparing for the Olympics. “Malaki ang pag-asa nating manalo. Breaks at dasal ang kailangan. He is very determined to win," said Chan, an Olympian in the 2000 Sydney Games. The 25-year-old Kuo, a native of Taipei, carries a handful of sterling achievements in a young career that has made him a gold-medal prospect in archery. His most notable triumph came during the last World Cup in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic where he led Taipei to the gold medal in the team event while claiming the silver in the individual competitions. Kuo also delivered in another major tournament, leading his team to a third-place finish behind eventual champion South Korea in the team event of the World Championships in Leipzig, Germany last year. Using a red 44lb bow, Javier finished 36th with 654 points in the Olympic ranking event last Saturday, while Kuo wound up 29th with a 659 total. Both scores were way off the 679 of Mexico’s Juan Rene Serrano. Current world no.1 Im Dong-hyun of Korea, the favorite to win the gold, landed eighth in the ranking event with 670 points. Under the rules, the competitors will fire at a target 70 meters. The target consists of concentric circles, with the bull’s eye of the target worth 10 points. They will shoot 18 arrows, consisting of six ends of three arrows each. A perfect score is 180. If a match is deadlocked after 18 arrows, a tiebreaker comes into play. Each archer shoots one arrow with the higher score winning. If the score is still tied, a second arrow is fired. If it does not decide the match, a single closest-to-the-center arrow tiebreak determines the winner. – GMANews.TV