Alif wins gold in Asia Cup Archery

Bangladesh archer Abdur Rahman Alif won gold medal in the men's recurve individual event of Asia Cup Stage-2, beating his Japanese archer Miyata Gakuto 6-4 in the gold-deciding match held in Singapore on Friday.

Alif made auspicious start by taking 4-0 lead after winning the first two sets by 28-27 and 29-28, but the Japanese archer staged a brilliant fight back to level the set points at 4-4 by winning the third and fourth sets 28-27 and 27-26 respectively.

The final rolled into the fifth and deciding set, where Alif kept his nerve cool to win 29-26, winning his first international individual medal with the gold.

Alif said winning first international gold in the foreign soil is really a great feeling.

In his immediate reaction after winning the gold Alif thorugh a video message said:"It's a great feeling to me because this the first time I have able to hear the national anthem in the foreign soil after winning the first gold in international competition."

Asked what is his next target? the archer said his only aim would now to win medal in Olympics and keeping ahead this aim he is taking preparation as accordingly under the coach.

Alif also appealed to the archery federation to organize more competitions for the team.

He said: "More competitions are needed to improve team's performance because if the federation organise more competition for the team, the world ranking of the team would be improved and the chance of qualify in Olympics would be brighten."