KUALA LUMPUR: National archers Khairul Anuar Mohamad and Juwaidi Mazuki settled for runner-up finishes at the Archery Asia Cup in Bangkok on Friday after falling short in their respective finals.
Two-time Olympian Khairul was denied victory in the men's individual recurve final by Taiwan's Deng Yu-Cheng 6-2, while Juwaidi lost the men's individual compound final by the narrowest of margins, 147-146, to Iran's Esmaeil Ebadi.
Khairul, seeking to win the Asia Cup for the first time, lost the first two sets 29-27 and 28-27 after struggling to find his range.
But three consecutive 10s helped seal a 30-26 win in the third set, only for Deng to respond with the same series in the match-clinching fourth set, 30-29.
Juwaidi, who won a bronze medal in this tournament last year, was always playing catch-up to Ebadi after falling a point behind at the conclusion of the second end.
Ebadi matched Juwaidi's score point-for-point for the remaining nine arrows to maintain his advantage to the end.
In the shootout for the men's compound bronze, Russian Alexander Dambaev downed Malaysian M. Khambeswaran 10-9 in a tie-break after the match ended 143-143.
Khairul and Juwaidi will both be involved in the mixed team events later on Friday with their respective partners, Nur Afisa Abdul Halil and Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh.